Pb as a surfactant in the growth of giant magnetoresistance Fe/Cr(1 0 0) multilayers

Abstract We investigated the differences in the interface structures and magnetotransport properties between surfactant-mediated multilayers and normal ones. We confirmed that the surfaces of Fe/Cr(1 0 0) multilayers with Pb are flatter and the interfaces are sharper than one without Pb, which means that Pb operates as an effective surfactant. The magnetoresistance ratio of the multilayers prepared with Pb was larger than that of the multilayers prepared without Pb. The change of resistance with magnetic field was larger for the multilayers with a surfactant.