STRUCTURES WITH IMPROVED MAGNETIC CHARACTERISTICS FOR GIANT MAGNETO-RESISTANCE APPLICATIONS

摘要

A GMR stack has at least two ferromagnetic layers (e.g., CoFe) spaced from each other by a nonferromagnetic layer (e.g., Cu). A layer of a phase-breaking material (such as Ta or a Ta-base alloy) between the nonferromagnetic layer and at least one of the two ferromagnetic layers prevents the undesirable growth of large-grained structures in the ferromagnetic layers.