Reversal of the extraordinary Hall effect polarity in thin Co/Pd multilayers

Thin Co/Pd multilayers, with room temperature perpendicular anisotropy and an enhanced surface scattering, were studied for the possible use in the extraordinary Hall effect (EHE)-based magnetic memory devices. Polarity of the EHE signal was found to change from negative in thick samples to positive in thin ones. Reversal of EHE sign was also observed in thick samples with aging. The effect is argued to be related to the dominance of surface scattering having the EHE polarity opposite to that of the bulk.