Spin valve element and method of manufacturing same

摘要

A spin valve element including parallelly or serially connected magnetic element groups, each magnetic element group having a plurality of magnetic elements that each include an intermediate layer of an insulating member or a nonmagnetic member sandwiched by a pair of ferromagnetic layers. The plurality of magnetic elements are further connected either in series or in parallel.

主权项

1. A spin valve element, comprising:
a plurality of serially or parallelly-connected magnetic element groups, wherein each magnetic element group is formed, at least in part, by connecting in parallel a plurality of magnetic elements, and wherein each magnetic element includes an intermediate layer and a pair of ferromagnetic layers sandwiching the intermediate layer; and a single porous layer having a plurality of minute holes, wherein each of the plurality of magnetic elements is disposed within one of the plurality of minute holes of the single porous layer, and wherein the plurality of magnetic elements is connected in parallel outside of the minute holes; wherein:
each of the pair of ferromagnetic layers has a predetermined thickness; anda ratio of a total number of serial connections of the magnetic elements to a total number of parallel connections of the magnetic elements is:
in a range of 1:100 to 1:30,000 if the spin valve element utilizes a tunneling magneto-resistance (TMR) effect; andin a range of 1:1 to 10:1 if the spin valve element utilizes a giant magneto-resistance (GMR) effect.