CPP giant magnetoresistance of NiFeCo/Cu/CoFe/Cu multilayers

Author

Bussmann, K. ; Cheng, S.F. ; Prinz, G.A. ; Hu, Y. ; Gutmann, R. ; Wang, D. ; Beech, R. ; Zhu, J.

Author_Institution

Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC, USA

Volume

34

Issue

4

fYear

1998

fDate

7/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

924

Lastpage

926

Abstract

CPP (Current perpendicular-to-plane) magnetotransport measurements have been performed on lithographically patterned magnetic multilayers of NiFeCo/Cu/CoFe/Cu. We implement chemical-mechanical polishing to produce very low Cu-Cu interface resistance that allows accurate, intrinsic giant magnetoresistance (GMR) values to be obtained. Measured GMR is found to be dependent on device size but can be interpreted as the change in the resistivity of the magnetic multilayer and the effects of non-uniform current distribution. Computer simulations account for the non-uniform current distribution and allow us to determine the intrinsic CPP GMR and verify the negligible contact resistance in these structures

Keywords

cobalt alloys; copper; ferromagnetic materials; giant magnetoresistance; iron alloys; magnetic multilayers; nickel alloys; NiFeCo-Cu-CoFe; NiFeCo/Cu/CoFe/Cu multilayers; current perpendicular-to-plane magnetotransport measurements; giant magnetoresistance; low Cu-Cu interface resistance; negligible contact resistance; Chemicals; Computer simulation; Conductivity; Current distribution; Current measurement; Electrical resistance measurement; Giant magnetoresistance; Magnetic multilayers; Performance evaluation; Size measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.706313

Filename

706313