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Enhancement of current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance in Heusler-alloy based pseudo spin valves by using a CuZn spacer layer

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4933397· OSTI ID:22492846
; ;  [1]
  1. National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba 305-0047 (Japan)
Enhancement of magnetoresistance output was attained in current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance (CPP-GMR) devices by using a bcc CuZn alloy for the spacer. Pseudo spin valves that consisted of the Co{sub 2}Fe(Ga{sub 0.5}Ge{sub 0.5}) Heusler alloy for ferromagnetic layers and CuZn alloy with the composition of Cu{sub 52.4}Zn{sub 47.6} for a spacer showed the large change of the resistance-area products, ΔRA, up to 8 mΩ·μm{sup 2} for a low annealing temperature of 350 °C. The ΔRA value is one of the highest reported so far for the CPP-GMR devices for the low annealing temperature, which is essential for processing read heads for hard disk drives. We consider that the enhancement of ΔRA is produced from the spin-dependent resistance at the Co{sub 2}Fe(Ga{sub 0.5}Ge{sub 0.5})/CuZn interfaces.
OSTI ID:
22492846
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 16 Vol. 118; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English