Giant magnetoresistance in electrodeposited Co87Fe13/Cu compositionally modulated alloys

In this paper we report on the giant magnetoresistance effect and oscillatory exchange coupling in electrodeposited Co87Fe13/Cu compositionally modulated alloys. The alloys are compositionally modulated over nanometre length scales with ferromagnetic CO87Fe13 (Cu) alloy layers and non-magnetic Cu layers. Co87Fe13/Cu multilayered thin films were electrodeposited from a single sulfate plating solution containing all metallic ions of interest under computer-controlled potentiostat switching on (111)-textured Cu buffers previously evaporated on Si(lll). Electrodeposits present a polycrystalline character with coexistence of face-centred cubic (fcc) and hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structures. Magnetoresistance effects as high as 8% were observed at room temperature. The dependence of the magnetoresistance effect on Cu spacer layer thickness shows an oscillation period around 1.0 nm.