Oxygen atom diffusion-driven anomalous Hall behavior in Co/Pt multilayers

Anomalous Hall effect (AHE) studies have been carried out in Co/Pt multilayers prepared by magnetron sputtering under annealing. The AHE behavior can be deteriorated by annealing in Pt/[Co/Pt]3/Pt thin films, while saturation anomalous Hall resistivity in MgO/[Co/Pt]3/MgO multilayers after annealing at 623 K for 30 min is 124% larger than that in the as-deposited films. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis exhibits that the increased AHE is primarily ascribed to annealing dependent oxygen atom diffusion at the Co/MgO interface.