Magnetoresistance Properties of Cu/Co/Cu/NiFe Multilayers with a Few Stacking Numbers

Abstract

[Cu/Co/Cu/NiFe]N multilayers were prepared using electron-beam evaporation in an ultrahigh vacuum and their magnetoresistive (MR) properties with a few stacking numbers (N) were studied. The N dependence of the MR property was affected by the magnetic layer thickness. In the range of N≦2, a thick magnetic layer was required to obtain a large MR ratio. In the multilayer of Cr(50 Å)/NiFe(50 Å)/Cu(50 Å)/Co(50 Å)/Cu(50 Å)/NiFe(50 Å) (N=1.5), the MR ratio of 5.6% and the MR slope of 0.5%/Oe were obtained.