Structural transition and magnetic properties of evaporated Fe/Gd multilayers

Fe/Gd multilayers were prepared by alternate vapor deposition of pure Fe and Gd at a rate of 0.01-0.03 nm/s in an ultra-high-vacuum electron-gun evaporation system. The effects of the constituent metal layer thickness on the microstructures and magnetic properties of the films were investigated by low angle X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer. The experimental results show that a transition from the polycrystalline to amorphous state in the Fe layers occurs with the decrease of Fe layer thickness in the Fe/Gd multilayers. The saturation magnetization of the multilayers reduces significantly with decreasing Fe layer thickness and increasing Gd layer thickness. A superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature is observed for the [Fe(0.6 nm)/Gd(4.0 nm)]15 multilayer due to the formation of discontinuous Fe layers.