400-fold reduction in saturation field by interlayering

The buildup of stress with increasing thickness of magnetic thin films is a common phenomenon that often induces undesirable anisotropies that can convert an otherwise magnetically soft film into a magnetically hard one. We found that by interlayering such a magnetic thin film with films that are either not lattice matched or have a different crystal structure, reductions in the saturation field as large as 400-fold can be achieved. Differences in grain size appear to be responsible.