Title :
Effect of Annealing on SAF Spin Valves with Variable Easy Axis of Free Layer
Author :
Liu, Peng ; Li, Wei ; Liu, Huarui ; Ye, Shuangli ; Ren, Tianling ; Liu, Litian
Author_Institution :
Inst. of Microelectron., Tsinghua Univ., Beijing
Abstract :
Spin valves with synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF) structure were fabricated by high vacuum DC magnetron sputtering method. The easy axis of free layer was investigated. It indicated that the direction of the easy axis was strongly related to the performance of the spin valve. In order to achieve high performance, a post annealing procedure was performed, with a weak applied external magnetic field which could induce the easy axis perpendicular to the direction of exchange biased field. After that, the coercivity was reduced from 2.15Oe to 0.15Oe and the linear region was broadened from 1.54Oe to 10.15Oe. With these improvements, GMR sensors with high precision and wide working range could be obtained
Keywords :
antiferromagnetic materials; magnetic annealing; spin valves; sputtering; SAF spin valves; easy axis; high vacuum DC magnetron sputtering method; post annealing procedure; synthetic antiferromagnetic structure; Annealing; Coercive force; Giant magnetoresistance; Magnetic field measurement; Magnetic fields; Magnetic sensors; Saturation magnetization; Spin valves; Sputtering; Temperature sensors;
Conference_Titel :
Solid-State and Integrated Circuit Technology, 2006. ICSICT '06. 8th International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Shanghai
Print_ISBN :
1-4244-0160-7
Electronic_ISBN :
1-4244-0161-5
DOI :
10.1109/ICSICT.2006.306690
