Effect of low energy He+-ion irradiation on structural and magnetic properties of thin Pt/Cr/Co multilayers

In this work, we report on the changes in structural and magnetic properties of [Pt (0.7 nm)/Cr (x nm)/Co (0.5 nm)]×15/Si, x = 0.1 and 0.2 nm, due to 10 keV He+-ion irradiation at room temperature in the fluence range of 2 × 1015–5 × 1016 ions-cm−2. Enhancement in the coercivity values with a fairly square magnetization reversal loop (for both the multilayers), upon irradiation to the fluence of 5 × 1016 ions-cm−2 was observed. Above finding is discussed in the realm of ion beam mixing, leading to the CoCrPt ternary alloy phase formation, after low-energy He+-ion irradiation.