Structural and magnetic study of swift heavy ion irradiated W/Fe multilayer structure

摘要

The present study reports the effect of swift heavy ion irradiation on structural and magnetic properties of sputtered W/Fe multilayer structure (MLS) having bilayer compositions of [W(10 A)/Fe(20 A)]_108L-The MLS is irradiated by 120 MeV Au~(9+) ions of fluences 1 × 10~(13) and 4 × 10~(13) ions/cm~2. Techniques like X-ray reflectivity (XRR), cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (X-TEM) and DC magnetization with a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) are used for structural and magnetic characterization of pristine and irradiated MLS. Analysis of XRR data using Parratt's formalism shows a significant increase in W/Fe layer roughness. X-TEM studies reveal that intra-layer microstructure of Fe layers in MLS becomes nano-crystalline on irradiation. DC magnetization study shows that with spacer layer thickness interlayer coupling changes between ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic.