Thickness effect on magnetocrystalline anisotropy of Co/Pd(111) films: A density functional study

In this study, we carried out first-principles calculations on magnetocrystalline anisotropy (MCA) of Co/Pd thin films by adopting two different systems of (i) n-Co/3-Pd and (ii) n-Pd/3-Co. In one system, we vary the thickness of Co layer, fixing the thickness of the Pd layer to 3-monolayers, and in the other system vice versa. MCA is mainly governed by the surface and interface Co atoms, while contributions from other Co atoms are smaller. MCA energy (E-MCA) of the Co/Pd thin film shows oscillatory behavior with the thickness of the Co layer, but is insensitive to the thickness of the Pd layer. In particular, the n-Co/3-Pd films of n = 2, 4, and 6 exhibit strong perpendicular MCA of about 1meV. Our results suggest that controlling the thickness of the Co layer in Co/Pd (111) is crucial in achieving strong perpendicular MCA. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.