Polycrystalline current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance pseudo spin-valves using Co{sub 2}Mn(Ga{sub 0.25}Ge{sub 0.75}) Heusler alloy

Journal Article · Wed Aug 07 04:00:00 EDT 2013 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4817428· OSTI ID:22218249

Du, Ye; Hono, K. ^[1]; Nakatani, T. M.; Takahashi, Y. K.; Hase, N.; Furubayashi, T. ^[2]

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1. Graduate School of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8571 (Japan)
2. National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba 305-0047 (Japan)

We have studied the structure and magnetoresistive properties of polycrystalline current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance pseudo spin-valves (PSVs) with Co{sub 2}Mn(Ga{sub 0.25}Ge{sub 0.75}) (CMGG) ferromagnetic layers and a Ag spacer. With (110) textured CMGG thin films and (111) textured Ag spacer, the PSVs annealed at 350 °C with 2 nm CoFe buffer layers showed ΔRA of 3.7 mΩ μm{sup 2} and MR ratio of 12.2%, while the PSVs without the buffer layer showed ΔRA of only 1.3 mΩ μm{sup 2}. High angle angular dark field images showed that the drop of ΔRA by annealing was due to the deterioration of the multi-layer CMGG/Ag/CMGG structure. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy images further confirmed the interdiffusion between CMGG layer and the Ag layer outside the CMGG/Ag/CMGG trilayer. In addition, we discuss the difference in the magnetoresistive properties of polycrystalline and epitaxial PSVs.

• OSTI ID: 22218249
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 114; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ANNEALING
COBALT ALLOYS
GALLIUM ALLOYS
GERMANIUM ALLOYS
IMAGES
IRON ALLOYS
LAYERS
MAGNETORESISTANCE
MANGANESE ALLOYS
POLYCRYSTALS
SPIN
THIN FILMS
VALVES
X RADIATION
X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY