Effect of ion beam irradiation on magnetic and structural properties of Pt/Cr/Co multilayers

This paper discusses the effect of ion beam irradiation on the magnetic and structural properties of Pt/Cr/Co multilayers. We observe Co–Cr–Pt ternary alloy phase formation in 1 MeV N+ ion irradiated [Pt (2.5 nm)/Cr (0.8 nm)/Co (3.0 nm)]×6/Si multilayers for a fluence of 1 × 1016 ions cm−2 and beyond. The observed phase formation is accompanied by an enhancement in the average grain size, surface roughness and coercivity. Monte Carlo simulation has been performed to study ion-induced defect evolution and atomic displacements to correlate the above observed effects.