Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
This paper presents the results of giant magnetoresistance (GMR), magnetic and microstructural investigations of sputter-deposited Co/Cu multilayers. The multilayers were designed to be at the second maximum of the oscillatory exchange coupling and were deposited onto a range of ion beam irradiated (111) Si substrates giving a transition from a random orientation to a highly oriented (111) texture. The randomly oriented multilayers exhibited mixed coupling and ∼20% GMR, which had components arising from irreversible and reversible magnetization changes, whereas the highly oriented (111) multilayers were almost completely ferromagnetically coupled and showed very little GMR.