X-ray small-angle reflection and high-angle diffraction studies on Co Cu magnetic multilayers

With varying thickness of the spacer near the second oscillatory GMR peak in Co/Cu system, a series of glass/Fe/[Co/Cu](20)/Co multilayers are prepared by magnetronsputtering technique. The MR values are relatively small. High angle X-ray diffraction shows that the copper crystallizes in fee structure with (111) texture and the cobalt crystallizes in hcp structure with (002) preferential orientation. There is a mixed amorphous CoCu layer at the interface due to the diffusion between cobalt and copper, which may decrease the MR value. The thickness, the mass density for each sub-layer and the surfacial and interfacial roughnesses are refined from the X-ray specular reflectivity measurement.