Magnetic and transport properties of Fe/Si multilayers with various iron thicknesses

Resistivity, temperature coefficient of resistance and magnetization as functions of iron thickness have been studied in a series of magnetron sputtered Fe/Si multilayers with constant Si layer thickness. At the Fe/Si interfaces, a significant amount of deposited iron is transformed into nonmagnetic (0.5 nm) and ferromagnetic (up to 2 nm) nonuniform Fe–Si mixture with a gradient of Fe concentration. Finally, for iron thicknesses above 2.5 nm a bcc-Fe phase appears. Key words: thin films; magnetic multilayers; Hall effect 1