Magnetic and Electrical Properties of the Spin Valve Structures with Amorphous CoNbZr

  • Cho, Hae-Seok (Center for Materials for Informatin Technology, University of Alabama)
  • Published : 1997.09.01

Abstract

A spin valve structure of NiO(40 nm)/Co(2 nm)/Cu(2.6 nm)/Co(x nm)/Ta(5 nm) has been investigated for the application of magnetic random access memory (MRAM). The spin valve structure exhibited very large difference in the coercivities between pinned and free layers, a relatively high GMR ratio, and a low free layer coercivity. The spin valves were prepared by sputtering and were characterized by dc 4-point probe, and VSM. The spin valves with combined free layer exhibited a maximun GMR ratio of 10.4% with a free layer coercivity of about 82 Oe. The spin valves with a single 10 nm thick a-CoNbZr free layer exhibited a GMR ratio of about 4.3% with a free layer coercivity of about 12 Oe. The GMR ratio of the spin valves increased by addition of Co between Cu and a-CoNbZr. It has been confirmed that the coercivity of free layer can be decreased by increasing the thickness of a-CoNbZr. It has been confirmed that the coercivity of free layer can be decreased by increasing the thickness of a-CoNbZr layer without losing the GMR ratio substantially, which was mainly due to high resistivity of the amorphous "layers".

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