The Magnetotransport Properties of Spin Valves Based on Exchange-Coupled Dy Helimagnetic and Co90Fe10 Ferromagnetic Nanolayers.

Spin valves with a CoFe/Dy/CoFe composition in the lower part of their structure have been manufactured by magnetron sputtering. The effect of prolonged storage and temperature on the structure and magnetotransport properties of spin valves has been studied. The change in the compensation temperature was used as an indicator of the intensity of diffusion processes in the exchange-coupled CoFe/Dy/CoFe structure. It has been revealed that diffusion induced changes in the magnetotransport properties become smaller with a decrease in the dysprosium layer thickness. It has been shown that the nanostructure still contains pure dysprosium, the atoms of which do not participate in the sperimagnetic ordering of the Dy–Co–Fe interface, even at a small nominal thickness (4 nm) of the dysprosium layer 3 months after sputtering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]