Origins of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Ni/Pd multilayer films

Abstract

Room-temperature perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) was observed in Ni/Pd multilayer films having 5.1-11 Angstrom Ni and constant 5.7 Angstrom Pd sublayer thicknesses, prepared by dc magnetron sputtering at 7 mTorr Ar sputtering pressure. The magnetoelastic anisotropy determined from delicate in situ stress and ex situ magnetostriction coefficient measurements was found to contribute positively to the observed PMA in those samples and its magnitude was nearly comparable to the surface anisotropy. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)46208-5].