Magnetisation reversal in spin-valve structures

Author

Goodman, A.M. ; O´Grady, K. ; Walmsley, N.S. ; Parker, M.R.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electron. Eng., Univ. Coll. of North Wales, Bangor, UK

Volume

33

Issue

5

fYear

1997

fDate

9/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2902

Lastpage

2904

Abstract

Magnetisation reversal has been studied in detail for spin-valve structures based on the Ta/NiFeCo/Cu/NiFeCo/FeMn system. The objective of the work is to examine the role of inter and intra-layer coupling in the systems and to this end the thickness of the pinned layer was varied so as to examine the effects and the extent of the exchange coupling from the FeMn layer. We find that as the thickness of the pinned layer is decreased the effect of the exchange coupling increases in that the loop of the pinned layer is shifted to higher fields and that the switching region of the loop broadens substantially and the reversal becomes bimodal

Keywords

cobalt alloys; copper; exchange interactions (electron); giant magnetoresistance; iron alloys; magnetic heads; magnetic multilayers; magnetic switching; magnetic thin film devices; magnetisation reversal; magnetoresistive devices; manganese alloys; nickel alloys; remanence; tantalum; GMR; Ta-NiFeCo-Cu-NiFeCo-FeMn; bimodal reverse; exchange coupling; inter-layer coupling; intra-layer coupling; magnetic heads; magnetisation reversal; pinned layer; spin-valve structures; switching field distribution; switching region; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Antiferromagnetic materials; Couplings; Glass; Magnetic field measurement; Magnetic variables measurement; Magnetization reversal; Magnetometers; Remanence; Vibration measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.617792

Filename

617792