Abstract
The influence of annealing on giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect and magnetization reversal processes has been investigated in Py/Cu (Py = Ni 83 Fe 17 ) sputter-deposited multilayers (MLs) with a limited number of magnetic sublayers (N ≤ 6) and equal sublayer thicknesses both for Py and Cu (t Cu = 2 nm, t Py = 2 nm). Based on the magnetization and magnetoresistance measurements it has been shown that the magnetic behavior of such MLs is strongly influenced by annealing driven disruption of magnetic layers (lateral decoupling) and nonmagnetic layers (magnetic bridging between Py layers). A comparison of experimental hysteresis curves with model dependences indicates that annealing causes a change of the magnetization reversal from a local to an absolute energy minimum mode leading to quasi-two-state magnetoresistance characteristics.
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