Giant magnetoresistance in narrow stripes

Author

Daughton, J.M. ; Bade, P.A. ; Jenson, M.L. ; Rahmati, M.M.M.

Author_Institution

Nonvolatile Electronics, Inc., Plymouth, MN, USA

Volume

28

Issue

5

fYear

1992

fDate

9/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2488

Lastpage

2493

Abstract

A simple model for giant magnetoresistance in thin-film magnetic sandwiches was developed. Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) and anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) were measured using 1.5-μm to 10-μm-wide×70-μm-long test structures etched from magnetic sandwiches with two magnetic films and a thin nonmagnetic conducting interlayer. Magnetic fields were applied to the sandwiches by passing current through the stripes and by applying external fields. The magnetic layers were sputtered (80-20) NiFe, NiFeCo, and CoFe films in the thickness range of 20 Å to 140 Å. The conducting interlayers were sputtered nonmagnetic films of Cu or alloys of CuNi and CuZn in the thickness range of 15 Å to 50 Å. The range of observed GMR was from 0.2% to 6%

Keywords

cobalt alloys; iron alloys; magnetic multilayers; magnetoresistance; nickel alloys; sputtered coatings; 15 to 15 Å; 20 to 140 Å; CoFe-Cu-CoFe; NiFe-Cu-NiFe; NiFe-CuNi-NiFe; NiFeCo-Cu-NiFeCo; NiFeCo-CuZn-NiFeCo; anisotropic magnetoresistance; giant magnetoresistance; magnetic films; model; narrow stripes; sputtered films; thickness range; thin nonmagnetic conducting interlayer; thin-film magnetic sandwiches; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Conductive films; Copper alloys; Giant magnetoresistance; Magnetic anisotropy; Magnetic field measurement; Magnetic films; Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; Sputter etching; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.179534

Filename

179534