Journal of Applied Physics -- November 15, 1994 -- Volume 76, Issue 10 pp. 6516-6518 

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Influence of crystal structure on the magnetoresistance of Co/Cr multilayers

       Y. Liou 
       Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan, Republic of China 

       J. C. A. Huang 
       Department of Physics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan, Republic of China 

       Y. D. Yao 
       Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan, Republic of China 

       C. H. Lee 
       Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan, Republic of China 

       K. T. Wu, C. L. Lu, and S. Y. Liao 
       Department of Physics, Fu Jen University, Taipei 242, Taiwan, Republic of China 

       Y. Y. Chen, N. T. Liang, W. T. Yang, C. Y. Chen, and B. C. Hu 
       Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan, Republic of China 

Epitaxial Co/Cr multilayers, and single-crystal Co thin films etc. have been grown on MgO and Al2O3 substrates with Cr and Mo as buffer layers by molecular beam epitaxy technique. From the structure and
magnetoresistance studies, we have found that the ferromagnetic anisotropy of resistance (AMR) is strongly influenced by the buffer layer, but with negligible effect due to the variation of the structure of Co films. The AMR
of Co film on Cr buffer layer is quite small (0.1%); however, the MR of Co/Cr multilayers is almost one order larger than the AMR of Co film on Cr buffer layer. An enhancement factor of 4 for the MR in Co/Cr multilayers by the
interface roughness has been observed. This suggests that the effect due to the spin dependent scattering at the interfacial regions of the superlattice is larger than that due to the spin dependent scattering in the
ferromagnetic layers for the MR in the Co/Cr multilayer system. Journal of Applied Physics is copyrighted by The American Institute of Physics. 


DOI: 10.1063/1.358247 
PACS: 72.15.Gd, 73.50.Jt, 68.65.+g