Abstract
Our previous reports showed that [Co(Ni)Cu/Cu] multilayers prepared by using a current wave-form with off-time had magnetic layers with high Cu content. Phenomenological considerations led us to anticipate that this phnomenon should be caused by the selective dissolution of magnetic metal or displacement from the alloy by Cu during off-time, and the selective deposition of Cu metal at the onset of the current pulse for magnetic layers. Though the MR ratio of the films composed only of magnetic layers was less than 1% and increased gradually with increasing annealing temperature up to 550°C that of films with multilayers had a maxium at 150-300°C It was concluded, from these results, that the GMR observed in multilayers whose magnetic layers had high Cu content was mostly due to the multilayer structure, and that the contribution of the magnetic layers themselves, including the granular effect, was very small.
