Characterisation of CoNi(Cu)/Cu multilayers deposited from a citrate electrolyte in a flow channel cell

CoNi(Cu)/Cu multilayers consisting of 50 and 200 bi-layers were deposited from a citrate electrolyte in a flow channel cell by a dual pulse plating technique. The dissolution of the ferromagnetic components during pulse plating was studied using an oscilloscope and cyclic voltammetry. It was found that the dissolution was suppressed due to the passivation of the ferromagnetic layers before the deposition of an atomic layer of nonmagnetic component on them. The passivation was a function of the nickel ion concentration in the electrolyte. X-ray studies showed that the deposit had a preferred crystal orientation of 1 1 1] and suggested the formation of a super-lattice. Atomic force microscopy studies showed a four-fold increase of the roughness of the ferromagnetic surface with increasing layer thickness from 6 to 10 nm, whereas the roughness of the nonmagnetic surface only changed slightly with increasing layer thickness. The multilayers exhibit giant magnetoresistance.