Physical Properties of CoFe/IrMn Spin-Valves Prepared Using Ion Beam Sputtering with an Xe-H 2 Mixture Gas

Co 90 Fe 10 /Cu/Co 90 Fe 10 /Ir 25 Mn 75 spin-valves with a Ta seed layer were prepared by ion beam sputtering. Improvements in magnetoresistive (MR) and magnetic properties were obtained by adding H 2 to Xe sputtering gas. Specifically, the coercivity in the free Co 90 Fe 10 layer considerably decr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 1997-11, Vol.36 (11R), p.6746
Main Authors: Umemoto, Takashi, Maeda, Atsushi, Takahashi, Seiichirou, Tanuma, Toshio, Minoru Kume, Minoru Kume
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Co 90 Fe 10 /Cu/Co 90 Fe 10 /Ir 25 Mn 75 spin-valves with a Ta seed layer were prepared by ion beam sputtering. Improvements in magnetoresistive (MR) and magnetic properties were obtained by adding H 2 to Xe sputtering gas. Specifically, the coercivity in the free Co 90 Fe 10 layer considerably decreased as the H 2 flow rate was increased. Furthermore, exchange coupling between the Ir 25 Mn 75 and pinned Co 90 Fe 10 layers became stronger in the preparation under the higher H 2 flow rate. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and secondary ion mass spectroscopy observations suggest that micro-crystallization of each layer is responsible for improving the MR and magnetic properties.
ISSN:0021-4922
1347-4065
DOI:10.1143/JJAP.36.6746