Correlation between evolving magnetic and morphological properties in magnetic multilayers

The effect of roughness on the magnetic properties of RF sputtered, thin film multilayers of NiFe, Cu, Co (CoFe) is described. The mean roughness (R/sub a/), measured via atomic force microscopy, is shown to increase linearly with the number of layers. The R/sub a/ of 0.43 nm for a single trilayer increased to 1.53 nm for a stack of ten trilayers. Similarly, the saturation field increased as the number of layers increased. The saturation field of 45 Oe for a single trilayer, increased to 141 Oe for a stack of ten trilayers. For the NiFe/Cu/Co(CoFe) systems studied, the coercivity and saturation field of the individual magnetic layers are shown to be position sensitive properties due to the evolution of roughness through the thickness of the stack.