Microstructure and magnetic properties of electrodeposited Co/Cu multilayer nanowire arrays

Highly uniform Co/Cu multilayer nanowire arrays had been electrodeposited into the nanochannels of porous anodic aluminum oxide template. X-ray diffraction pattern showed that Co and Cu grow in their HCP and FCC structures, respectively. Each nanowire had the same length with 20 mu m and the diameter with 50 nm. The thickness of Co was 50 nm and Cu layer was about 5 nm. Magnetic measurements of the nanowire arrays showed that the magnetic coercivity for the applied field parallel to the nanowires is larger than that perpendicular to the anowires. The magnetic coercivity of Co multilayer nanowire arrays is smaller than that of the Co/Cu nanowire arrays and the crystal direction of Co layers were not obviously affected by Cu layer. The Co/Cu nanowire arrays exhibited excellent Giant Magneto Resistive ratio of about 75%. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.