HREM study of spin valves with MnNi pinning layer

Author

Portier, Xavier ; Petford-Long, Amanda K. ; Anthony, Thomas C.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mater., Oxford Univ., UK

Volume

33

Issue

5

fYear

1997

fDate

9/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

3679

Lastpage

3681

Abstract

Four NiFe/Co/Cu/Co/NiFe/MnNi spin valves (SVs) with two different growth configurations have been investigated by conventional and high resolution electron microscopy (CTEM and HREM). Structures with the MnNi pinning layer above and below the ferromagnetic sandwich in both as-grown and annealed states have been studied. A correlation between their magnetic properties and their microstructure has been found. For each of these configurations, the structure of the MnNi pinning film is different and as a result, the exchange field (H_ex) value changes. In addition, the coercivity (H_c) of the sense layer seems to be related to its grain size and crystallographic texture

Keywords

annealing; cobalt; coercive force; copper; crystal microstructure; electron microscopy; exchange interactions (electron); ferromagnetic materials; giant magnetoresistance; grain size; iron alloys; magnetic multilayers; manganese alloys; metallic superlattices; nickel alloys; texture; GMR; HREM; MnNi pinning layer; NiFe-Co-Cu-Co-NiFe-MnNi; NiFe/Co/Cu/Co/NiFe/MnNi spin valves; annealed states; coercivity; conventional electron microscopy; crystallographic texture; exchange field; ferromagnetic sandwich; grain size; growth configurations; high resolution electron microscopy; magnetic properties; microstructure; spin valves; Annealing; Antiferromagnetic materials; Coercive force; Giant magnetoresistance; Magnetic films; Magnetic properties; Magnetic separation; Magnetosphere; Microstructure; Spin valves;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.619536

Filename

619536