Two series of exchange coupled composite films with and without Ag interlayer, L10-[FePt-Ag]/[Co/Ni]N (FC-Ag-N) and FePt/[Co/Ni]N (FC-N), were prepared and well studied. Coercivities of both series decrease with the increase of the soft [Co/Ni]N thickness. However, well-isolated sphere grains are observed in FC-Ag-N samples, instead of a ledge-type structure in FC-N samples. The average grain size is almost constant for FC-Ag-N films, regardless of the thickness of Co/Ni multilayer. It indicates that Ag effectively suppresses the grain coarseness during the deposition of [Co/Ni]N.

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