Structural and magnetic changes on annealing permalloy/copper multilayers

Thin-film powder diffraction and in situ grazing incidence X-ray scattering have been used to determine the structural changes that occur during annealing of permalloy/copper multilayers. We show that the enhanced stability in the magnetotransport properties of multilayers doped with cobalt at the interfaces correlates with reduced interdiffusion. The development of a long correlation length conformal roughness during annealing is observed.