TESTING CURRENT PERPENDICULAR TO PLANE GIANT MAGNETORESISTANCE MULTILAYER DEVICES

摘要

A wafer (12) suitable to be tested for current-perpendicular to the plane resistance includes a substrate (22), a conductive base layer (24) on the substrate, a magnetic multilayer (26, 27) on the conductive base layer, and a top conductive layer (30). A testing ring (16) is formed on the magnetic multilayer (27) in a manner whereby it is separated from rest of the magnetic multilayer by a trench (42) in the magnetic multilayer (27). Within the testing ring (16), the magnetic multilayer includes a hole (40). The current perpendicular to the plane resistance of the wafer (12) may be determined by passing a predetemined current perpendicular through the testing ring (16) by contacting a probe (66) to the testing ring and measuring the voltage at the conductive base layer (24). The probe (66) used in the present invention may be an AFM or a STM probe (66).