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The Role of Atomic Scale Investigation in the Development of Nanoscale Materials for Information Storage Applications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2004

A.K. Petford-Long ,
D.J. Larson ,
A. Cerezo ,
X. Portier ,
P. Shang ,
D. Ozkaya ,
T. Long  and
P.H. Clifton
A.K. Petford-Long
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3PH, UK
D.J. Larson
Affiliation:
Recording Head Operations, Seagate Technology, 1 Disc Drive, Bloomington, MN 55435, USA
A. Cerezo
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3PH, UK
X. Portier
Affiliation:
Materials Laboratory, Storage Technology Division, IBM, 5600 Cottle Road, San Jose, CA 95193, USA
P. Shang
Affiliation:
Materials Laboratory, Storage Technology Division, IBM, 5600 Cottle Road, San Jose, CA 95193, USA
D. Ozkaya
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3PH, UK
T. Long
Affiliation:
Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3PH, UK
P.H. Clifton
Affiliation:
Seagate Technology, Londonderry BT48 0BF, N. Ireland
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Abstract

It is well established that the response of devices based on the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect depends critically on film microstructure, with parameters such as interfacial abruptness, the roughness and waviness of the layers, and grain size being crucial. Such devices have applications in information storage systems, and are therefore of great technological interest as well as being of fundamental scientific interest. The layers must be studied at high spatial resolution if the microstructural parameters are to be characterized with sufficient detail to enable the effects of fabrication conditions on properties to be understood, and the techniques of high resolution electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy chemical mapping, and atom probe microanalysis are ideally suited. This article describes the application of these techniques to a range of materials including spin valves, spin tunnel junctions, and GMR multilayers.

Keywords

information storage materialstransmission electron microscopyatom probe microanalysisinterfacial mixing
Type
Research Article
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , June 2004 , pp. 366 - 372
Copyright
© 2004 Microscopy Society of America

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References

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