MAGNETORESISTANCE IN NANO-SCALE NiO-CONTAINING Co/Cu/Co SPIN VALVES.

A series of NiO-containing Co/Cu/Co spin valves with the thickness Co of 5 nm and Cu of 2 nm were fabricated by magnetron sputtering technique with different growth parameters. NiO layer with the thickness of 40 nm is used as a coupling layer. Magnetoresistance (MR) of the spin valve with NiO layer under the bottom of Co/Cu/Co (BSV) is larger than that of the spin valve with NiO layer at the top of Co/Cu/Co (TSV) at room temperature. The MR values can be improved with decreasing the sputtering rate of copper layer. The studies by in-situ grazing incident X-ray scattering on the annealing temperature dependence of MR show that the decrease of the interface roughness between Co and NiO may increase the MR value, while the decrease of the coupling effect between NiO and Co decreases the MR value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]