Formation of microstructural defects in electrodeposited Co/Cu multilayers

The effect of the thickness of the copper layers on the microstructure and magnetoresistance of electrodeposited Co/Cu multilayers was investigated by using the combination of wide-angle and small-angle X-ray scattering, transmission electron microscopy with high resolution and magnetoresistance measurement. The main tasks of the study were the classification of the microstructural defects, which form during the electrodeposition of Co/Cu multilayers, the description of mechanisms that are involved in the formation of these defects and the correlation of the kind and density of the microstructural defects as obtained using the microstructural analysis with the magnitude of the magnetoresistance effect, which was concluded from the rnagnetoresistance curves. (C) 2009 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.