CURRENT-PERPENDICULAR-TO-PLANE MAGNETO-RESISTANCE EFFECT ELEMENT

摘要

The CPPGMR element of the present invention has an orientation layer 12 formed on a substrate 11 to texture a Heusler alloy into a (100) direction, an underlying layer 13 that is an electrode for magneto-resistance measurement stacked on the orientation layer 12, a lower ferromagnetic layer 14 and an upper ferromagnetic layer 16 each stacked on the underlying layer 13 and made of a Heusler alloy, a spacer layer 15 sandwiched between the lower ferromagnetic layers 14 and the upper ferromagnetic layers 16, and a cap layer 17 stacked on the upper ferromagnetic layer 16 for surface-protection. This manner makes it possible to provide, inexpensively, an element using a current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magneto-resistance effect (CPPGMR) of a thin film having a trilayered structure of a ferromagnetic metal/a nonmagnetic metal/a ferromagnetic metal, thereby showing excellent performances.

主权项

1. A current-perpendicular-to-plane magneto-resistance effect element, comprising:
a substrate comprising at least one of a surface-oxidized Si substrate, a silicon substrate, a glass substrate, and a metal substrate; an orientation layer formed on the substrate to texture Heusler alloy into a (100) direction; a lower ferromagnetic layer and an upper ferromagnetic layer that each comprises a polycrystalline thin film of a Heusler alloy textured into a (100) direction, and that are each formed on the orientation layer; and a spacer layer sandwiched between the lower ferromagnetic layer and the upper ferromagnetic layer.