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Structural and Magnetic Properties of Cr/Gd Multilayers Deposited on Sapphire and MgO Substrates

Alexei Petroutchik ,  Lech T. Baczewski ,  Roman Minikayev ,  Wojciech Paszkowicz ,  Justyna Każmierczak ,  Anna Ślawska-Waniewska 

Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics, al. Lotników 32/46, Warszawa 02-668, Poland

Abstract

The Cr/Gd magnetic multilayers of the following configuration were deposited on 20 nm thick Mo buffer using Molecular Beam Epitaxy UHV technique: substrate/Mo/Crx/Gd30 where x=10, 20 and 30 A. Two different types of substrates were used - MgO and Al2O3. The growth mechanism and formation of Cr/Gd interface were investigated in situ by RHEED. Bilayer (Cr+Gd) thickness and interface roughness were determined from X-Ray reflectometry curves by fitting procedure using Simulreflec software based on Parrat algorithm. The temperature and field magnetization dependencies M(H) and M(T) were measured by SQUID and high sensitivity VSM magnetometer at the temperature range from 5K to 250K.

It was shown that the roughness of the Cr/Gd interface strongly depends on the type of the substrate -the samples grown on the Al2O3 substrate were smoother then those grown on MgO. A strong influence of substrate temperature on Cr/Gd interface formation was observed - samples grown at room temperature were much smoother then samples grown at 250 C. The strong in-plane anisotropy has been observed from the hysteresis loops analysis. Furthermore, the magnitude of coercivity field was found to increase with increasing of Cr layer thickness. Curie temperatute dependence on Cr layer thickness was also investigated.

 

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Presentation: poster at E-MRS Fall Meeting 2005, Symposium D, by Alexei Petroutchik
See On-line Journal of E-MRS Fall Meeting 2005

Submitted: 2005-05-17 09:01
Revised:   2009-06-07 00:44