Numerical investigations on the growth textures of Co/Cu multilayers

A first-principles investigation on the growth textures of cobalt/copper multilayers is presented. Through an ab-initio local-density approximation in a full-potenatial linear muffin-tin orbital (FPLMTO) electronic structure method, the different growth textures of Co/Cu multilayers are compared. Through total energy minimization, the face-centered cubic (111) configuration is determined to be the preferred textural orientation as compared to the (110) and (001) directions. Physically, this suggests that (111) configuration is more favorable to grow.