Study of magnetic reorientation phenomenon and magnetic properties of Pd/(Pt/Co/Pt) multilayers

Pd/(Pt/Co/Pt) modulated multilayer films have been prepared at substrate temperatures ranging from room temperature to 350 degrees C by e-beam evaporation using various buffer layers. All these films exhibit perpendicular magnetic anisotropy with square polar Ken hysteresis loops at room temperature. However, we observed a magnetic reorientation from a perpendicular anisotropy to an in-plane anisotropy at temperatures close to the Curie temperature T-C. The reorientation temperature T-R is found to depend strongly on the nonmagnetic Pd-spacer thickness in these Pd/(Pt/Co/Pt) multilayers. Over the room temperature to T-R range, we observe a linear temperature dependence of magnetic coercivity. AFM and STM characterization of the role of buffer layers on the microstructure, the dependence of coercivity and squareness of the Ken hysteresis loops on the buffer layers of Au, Pt, and Al are also presented. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.