Current-perpendicular-to-the-plane giant magnetoresistance in spin-valves with AgSn alloy spacers

Journal Article · Tue Jul 28 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4927511· OSTI ID:22494644

Read, J. C.; Nakatani, T. M.; Smith, Neil; Choi, Y. -S.; York, B. R.; Brinkman, E.; Childress, J. R. ^[1]

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1. San Jose Research Center, HGST, a Western Digital Company, San Jose, California 95135 (United States)

We investigate the use of AgSn alloys as the spacer layer in current-perpendicular-to-the-plane magnetoresistance devices. Alloying with Sn increases resistivity but results in a reasonably long (>10 nm) spin-diffusion length, so large magnetoresistance can be achieved with thin AgSn spacers. Compared to Ag thin films, AgSn forms smaller grain sizes, reduced roughness, and exhibits less interdiffusion upon annealing, resulting in decreased interlayer magnetic coupling in exchange biased spin-valves. AgSn also shows improved corrosion resistance compared to Ag, which is advantageous for nanofabrication, including magnetic recording head sensors. Combining a AgSn spacer with Co-based Heusler alloy ferromagnet in an exchange biased, polycrystalline trilayer thinner than 12 nm results in magnetoresistance values up to 15% at room temperature.

• OSTI ID: 22494644
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 118, Issue 4; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ANNEALING
COBALT BASE ALLOYS
CORROSION RESISTANCE
DIFFUSION LENGTH
FABRICATION
GRAIN SIZE
HEUSLER ALLOYS
MAGNETORESISTANCE
NANOSTRUCTURES
POLYCRYSTALS
ROUGHNESS
SENSORS
SILVER
SILVER ALLOYS
SPACERS
SPIN
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
THIN FILMS