| In this dissertation, template electrodeposition was employed to fabricate high quality magnetic nanostructures suited for the reliable investigation of novel spintronics phenomena such as CIMS, BMR, and CPP-GMR.; Several critical aspects/steps relating to the synthesis process were investigated in this work. In order to obtain high quality magnetic nanostructures, free-standing and Si-supported anodic aluminum oxide templates with closely controlled pore diameters, lengths, as well as constriction sizes, were synthesized by anodization, followed by appropriate post-processing. The pore opening size on the barrier layer can be controlled down to 5 nm by ion beam etching. After optimization of the compositional, structural, and magnetic properties of homogeneous FeCoNiCu layers electrodeposited under different conditions, the pulsed deposition process of FeCoNI/Cu multilayers on n-Si was studied. The influence of Cu deposition potential and Fe2+ concentration on microstructure, chemical and electrochemical properties, magnetic properties, and hence magnetotransport properties were assessed. The dissolution of the FM layer during potential transition was minimized in order to control interface sharpness. Combined with the systematic sublayer thickness and FM layer composition optimization, unprecedented GMR sensitivity of 0.11%/Oe at 5-15 Oe was obtained. Growth of multilayer nanowires was performed, and contact to a single wire was attempted using an electrochemical technique. We succeeded in addressing a small number of nanowires and measured a CPP-GMR of 17%. Template electrodeposition thus provides a promising way to repeatably fabricate prototypes for spin dependent transport studies. |
