IEEE Transitions on Magntetics vol 32. no 5. sept. 1996

Surface Topography and Anisotropy of Co(1-100)/Cr(211) Bilayers

Ching-Ray Chang, U.M. Chen, S. Liao, C.K. Lo, Y. Liou, I. Klik,
Y.D. Yao, J.S. Yang

Correlation between the thickness of the nonmagnetic layer and the 
magnetic anisotropy of epitaxial Co(1-100)/Cr(211)/MgO(110) bilayers was 
studied experimentally and analyzed theoretically. The Co thickness was 
held constant at 200 A while the thickness of Cr layer was varied between 
6 and 100 A. Coercitivity was found to decrease with increasing thickness 
of a continous Cr layer: at low temperatures the observed data are in good 
agreement with a model of roughness induced magnetostatic anisotropy 
energy.