THE EFFECT OF SUBSTRATE TEMPERATURE ON GRAIN STRUCTURES AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF Pd(Pt/Co/Pt) MODULATED MULTILAYERS

Pd/(Pt/Co/Pt) modulated multilayer films have been deposited on various substrates with Pd/Pt buffer layers. Films grown at different temperatures have very distinct magnetic properties and surface microstructures. Atomic force(AFM) and scanning tunneling (STM) microscopies studies of these films reveal that films deposited at room temperature have small grain structures with an average grain size of about $140\;{\AA}$. However, much larger grains of about $1200\;{\AA}$ in size are observed in the films grown on buffer layers which were deposited at $500^{\circ}C$. These large grains are found to actually consist of smaller grains of about $170{\AA}$ in diameter. SQUID magnetic and Kerr hysteresis loop measurements indicate that multilayer films with large grains exhibit high magnetic coercivities of around 5 kOe. A subgrain growth model is proposed to understand the observed grain structures in the multilayers.