Magnetic and transport properties of Co–Cu microwires with granular structure

Magnetic, transport and structural properties of granular Co_x–Cu_100−x (5 < x < 40 at.%) glass-coated microwires were studied. Co–Cu microwires exhibited giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect. For x = 5% we observed the resistivity minimum at 40 K associated with the Kondo effect. For x > 10 partial evidences of granular structure have been observed. For x ≥ 30 anisotropic contribution to GMR has been observed giving rise to non-monotonic dependence of GMR on the field. Temperature dependence of magnetization measured during a cooling regime without external magnetic field and in the presence of the field shows considerable difference at low temperatures, being attributed to the presence of small Co grains embedded in the Cu matrix. By X-ray diffraction we found, that the structure of the metallic nucleus is granular consisting of two phases: fcc Cu appearing in all the samples and fcc α-Co presented only in microwires with higher Co content. For low Co content (x ≤ 10%) X-ray diffraction technique indicates that Co atoms are distributed within the Cu crystals. The quantity and the crystallite size of the formed phases strongly depend on the geometry of the microwire. The structure, magnetic and transport properties were affected by the glass coating inducing the internal stresses and affecting the quenching rate. - Highlights: ► Systematic study of magnetic and transport properties of Co-Cu microwires. ► Observation of Giant Magnetoresistance effect in Co_xCu100_−x microwires. ► Observation of Kondo-like behavior in Co_xCu100_−x at lower Co content (5%). ► Discussions of the effect of internal stresses on the properties of Co-Cu microwires. ► Discussion of the effect of composition on the properties of Co-Cu microwires