Magnetic design and fabrication of linear spin-valve sensors

A spin-valve configuration with double free layers has been used in design and fabrication of a linear sensing resistor with excellent performance. In this novel structure, one free layer is the sensing layer which contributes to the GMR while another layer is the interacting layer which does not contribute to the GMR but improves the sensor performance. This approach not only can effectively reduce the hysteresis but also make it easy to optimize the bias point of the sensor.