Structure and magnetotransport properties of multilayer Co₇₇Fe₁₇Ni₆/Cu₉₆In₄ and Co₇₇Fe₁₇Ni₆/Cu nanostructures with the giant magnetoresistance effect

Structural and magnetoresistive properties of multilayer Co₇₇Fe₁₇Ni₆/Cu and Co₇₇Fe₁₇Ni₆/Cu₉₆In₄ nanostructures with a number of magnetic layers and nonmagnetic interlayers of 1 to 11 are studied. The sharp axial ⟨111⟩ texture and more perfect interfaces are shown to form in the nanostructures with Cu₉₆In₄ interlayers, and a relatively small magnetoresistance hysteresis is observed. Atomic force microscopy is used to estimate the surface roughness and crystallite size of the samples under study. As the number of layers in the Cu₉₆In₄-based samples increases, the crystallite size is found to slightly change from layer to layer in a range of 18–22 nm, whereas, for the Cu-based sample, the crystallite size substantially increases. For superlattices with Cu interlayers, the 10-fold decrease in the magnetoresistance is observed as the thickness of Co₇₇Fe₁₇Ni₆ layers slightly, namely, from 1.5 to 2 nm increases.