Temperature and ion irradiation dependence of magnetic domains and microstructure in Co/Pt multilayers

Microstructure and magnetic properties of Co/Pt multilayers with perpendicular anisotropy were studied as a function of growth temperature (T G) and ion irradiation. With increased T G, larger columnar grain size and an improved 〈111〉 texture were observed. Up to a critical temperature (T crit), a monotonic increase in coercivity (H C) with T G was measured, followed by a decrease in H C with further increase in T G. Magnetic domains of films grown below T crit were irregular, with their submicron size decreasing gradually with increasing T G. Films grown at 390°C>T crit had fine domains on the sub-100 nm length scale. Both H C and domain size were reduced after the multilayers were exposed. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.