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Temperature Dependence of Transport Properties in Liquid Metals

2001

We studied ion beam deposited NiFe/CoFe/Cu/CoFe/NiMn spin valves (SVs) subjected to different thermal annealing to establish the exchange field (H E ) of the CoFe pinned layer. The magnetoresistive (MR) properties of the SVs were characterized by magnetotransport measurements. We found MR values of 7.5%, 12% and 14% at T ¼ 20 K for SVs annealed at 453, 533 and 553 K, and observed a linear decrease of MR with increasing temperature for all SVs due to the excitation of spin waves. Our results also show that the exchange field H E is approximately constant over the measured temperature range (20-300 K) for SVs annealed at 453 and 553 K (H E % 250 and 400 Oe, respectively), while the sample annealed at 533 K shows the usual decrease of H E with temperature. These behaviors will be discussed in terms of structural differences between the measured SVs. An anomalous increase of the magnetoresistance at free layer switching in the ascending H-branch will be related with the enhancement of the pinned layer coercive field with decreasing temperature. r

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228336531 Temperature dependence of transport properties and exchange field of NiMn based spin valves Article in Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials · September 2007 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmmm.2007.03.159 CITATIONS READS 3 27 7 authors, including: J. M. Teixeira J. Ventura 67 PUBLICATIONS 337 CITATIONS 147 PUBLICATIONS 1,170 CITATIONS University of Oviedo SEE PROFILE University of Porto SEE PROFILE B. Negulescu R. Fermento 28 PUBLICATIONS 201 CITATIONS 17 PUBLICATIONS 156 CITATIONS University of Tours SEE PROFILE University of Porto SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by J. Ventura on 25 December 2016. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. ARTICLE IN PRESS Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 316 (2007) e973–e976 www.elsevier.com/locate/jmmm Temperature dependence of transport properties and exchange field of NiMn based spin valves J.M. Teixeiraa,, J. Venturaa, B. Negulescub, J.P. Araújoa, R. Fermentoa, J.B. Sousaa, P.P. Freitasb a IFIMUP, Rua do Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal INESC-MN, Rua Alves Redol, 9-1, 1000-029 Lisbon, Portugal b Available online 21 March 2007 Abstract We studied ion beam deposited NiFe/CoFe/Cu/CoFe/NiMn spin valves (SVs) subjected to different thermal annealing to establish the exchange field (H E ) of the CoFe pinned layer. The magnetoresistive (MR) properties of the SVs were characterized by magnetotransport measurements. We found MR values of 7.5%, 12% and 14% at T ¼ 20 K for SVs annealed at 453, 533 and 553 K, and observed a linear decrease of MR with increasing temperature for all SVs due to the excitation of spin waves. Our results also show that the exchange field H E is approximately constant over the measured temperature range (20–300 K) for SVs annealed at 453 and 553 K (H E  250 and 400 Oe, respectively), while the sample annealed at 533 K shows the usual decrease of H E with temperature. These behaviors will be discussed in terms of structural differences between the measured SVs. An anomalous increase of the magnetoresistance at free layer switching in the ascending H-branch will be related with the enhancement of the pinned layer coercive field with decreasing temperature. r 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 75.47.De; 75.60.Nt; 75.75.þa; 73.63.b Keywords: Spin valve; Giant magnetoresistance; Temperature dependence; Exchange field; MnNi 1. Introduction The highly competitive field of spintronics is continuously seeking new ways to improve device performance. In particular, spin valves (SVs) [1] constituted by two ferromagnetic (FM) layers separated by a thin metallic spacer, are currently used as magnetic sensors in hard drives. In a SV, the magnetization of one FM layer (pinned layer) is fixed by an underlying antiferromagnet (AFM), while the magnetization (M) of the other FM layer (free layer) easily rotates when a small magnetic field (H) is applied. Since the SV-electrical resistance depends on the relative orientation of the FM-magnetizations, large magnetoresistance (MR) effects arise in optimized SVs (structure and annealing treatments). In particular, the use of MnNi as the AFM pinning layer has been motivated by Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (J.M. Teixeira). 0304-8853/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jmmm.2007.03.159 its large exchange field (H E ), resistance to corrosion and high thermal stability [2–5]. The exchange field in MnNi SVs is known to be linked to the corresponding microstructure. In fact, as-deposited MnNi has a non-magnetic g-face-centered cubic (FCC) structural phase [3]. Annealing then induces the appearance of the AFM face-centeredtetragonal (FCT) phase, responsible for the existence of exchange bias. For a better understanding of the roles played by different electron scattering processes in SVs, it is also crucial to study the temperature (T) dependence of the magnetoresistance [6,7]. Here we present a comparative study of the temperature dependence (20–300 K) of MR of selected NiFe/CoFe/Cu/ CoFe/NiMn SVs with different thermal annealing: (i) rapid thermal annealing [8] at 453 K, (ii) standard annealing at 533 K ðH ¼ 3 kOeÞ and (iii) at 553 K (H applied only during cooling). We obtained MR values of, respectively, 7.5%, 12% and 14% at T ¼ 20 K, and observe a linear decrease of MR with increasing temperature for all SVs. ARTICLE IN PRESS e974 J.M. Teixeira et al. / Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 316 (2007) e973–e976 The H E ðTÞ dependence was also extracted from the MRðHÞ curves. H E is approximately constant over the measured temperature range for the 453 and 553 K annealed SVs (H E 250 and 400 Oe, respectively), while the SV annealed at 533 K (H E 750 Oe at 20 K) shows the usual decrease of H E with increasing temperature. These results will be discussed in terms of differences in the structural properties of the measured SVs. We also observe both a decrease and an (unusual) increase of the magnetoresistance at free layer switching in the ascending H-branch. Such anomalous MR-increase arises from the enhancement of the pinned layer coercive field with decreasing temperature, preventing the full magnetization reversal of the pinned layer at negative H. 3. Results and discussion Fig. 1 displays MRðHÞ curves obtained at room and low (20 K) temperatures for the studied SVs with different annealing processes. Measurements always started with the sample saturated at positive fields, where both CoFe FM layers (free and pinned) are spin aligned (4), providing the low R-state. Decreasing H from maximum positive value we observe for all SVs a sharp MR-increase when a small negative field is reached, due to the abrupt M-reversal of the free layer. One, however, sees an immediate gradual MR-decrease with further H-decrease, revealing the onset of pinned layer M-reversal for small negative fields (imperfect magnetization antiparallelism). This effect is particularly visible at high temperatures and for the 453 and 553 K annealed samples. Parallel alignment in the opposite sense 5 occurs when the negative field overcomes the exchange bias between the AFM and the pinned layers, leading again to the low R-state. Increasing then H from large negative values initiates the M-reversal of the pinned layer, since the exchange coupling with MnNi favors positive magnetization, leading to a gradual MR increase. When the field reaches small positive values the free layer suddenly reverses its magnetization, producing for all SVs a discontinuous MR variation. Notice, however, that both a decrease and increase [particularly visible at low temperatures; see inset of Fig. 1(b); curve at 20 K] of MR can be seen in the MRðHÞ curves at free layer switching (Fig. 1). Such anomalous MR-increase arises from the enhancement of the pinned layer coercive field with decreasing temperature, which prevents the magnetization of the pinned layer to reverse at negative H (see corresponding MR-decrease in Fig. 1 for H40). 2. Experimental details We studied glass/NiFeCr 65 Å/NiFe 40 Å/CoFe 20 Å/Cu 22 Å/CoFe 30 Å/NiMn 300 Å/NiFeCr 65 Å SVs grown on a glass substrate using ion beam deposition. Here NiFeCr, NiFe, CoFe and MnNi stand for Ni49Fe14Cr37, Ni81Fe19, Co90Fe10 and Mn50Ni50. Samples were subjected to different annealing processes: (i) rapid thermal annealing [8] with a set temperature of 453 K for 5 min and no magnetic field; (ii) standard annealing at 533 K for 2 h under a 3 kOe magnetic field; (iii) annealing at 553 K for 2 h without applied field. During cooling, a magnetic field of 14 kOe was applied. Electrical resistance (R) and MR were measured with a standard four-point DC method [9,10]. An automatic data acquisition system provided MRðHÞ curves obtained at constant temperature (20–300 K). a b c d Fig. 1. MR(H) curves obtained at 300 and 20 K and (d) temperature dependence of the GMR ratio. ARTICLE IN PRESS J.M. Teixeira et al. / Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 316 (2007) e973–e976 e975 To better understand this MRðHÞ behavior, we calculate the angle between pinned and free layer magnetizations (y) just before the reversal of the free layer [increasing Hbranch; see inset of Fig. 1(b)]. Using the relation [1]: MRðHÞ ¼ MRmax ð1  cos yÞ, 2 (1) where MRmax is the giant magnetoresistive ratio, we obtained the results shown in Fig. 2. For all SVs the reversal of the pinned layer is still not complete at free layer switching ðya180 Þ. From the yðTÞ dependence, we can understand the anomalous MR increase at free layer switching. This effect simply results from the fact that y decreases with decreasing temperature, being smaller than 90 for all SVs at low temperatures. From the MRðHÞ curves we extracted a linear increase of GMR with decreasing temperature for all SVs [Fig. 1(d)], which is usually attributed to the excitation of spin waves in the FM layers [11]. Extrapolating the MRðTÞ data to zero MR we obtain the effective Curie temperature ðT c Þ of the FM layers [7,12]. We note a slightly smaller T c value for the rapid thermal annealed SV ðT c 473 KÞ in comparison with the standard annealed SVs ðT c 506 KÞ. These are much lower than in bulk CoFe and NiFe (T c 980 and 800 K). To correlate the yðTÞ behavior with the different annealing conditions, we plotted H E as a function of temperature for the studied SVs (Fig. 3). The sample subjected to a rapid thermal annealing (SV 453 K) shows the smaller H E value, approximately constant with temperature ðH E 220 OeÞ. A similar H E ðTÞ dependence is observed for the SV annealed at 553 K (H E 370 Oe). The SV annealed at 533 K has a strong pinning field ð560 OepH E p760 OeÞ which decreases with increasing temperature. These results compare well with the obtained y-values. In fact, one observes, as expected, the general result that SVs with higher H E show higher y-values. Fig. 3. Temperature dependence of the exchange field ðH E Þ for the studied spin valves. As refereed, the FCT phase responsible for the exchange bias in MnNi-based SVs is expected to appear and grow with increasing annealing temperature [13]. However, the H E field of SV 553 K is smaller than that of SV 533 K, which is likely related to the different annealing procedures of the two samples. Also, the temperature dependence of the exchange field should depend on the grain size of the AFM layer [14], so that large grains help stabilizing the AFM order against thermal energy, while small grains are more susceptible to thermal fluctuations and thus to the loss of the AFM order with increasing temperature. Nevertheless, the reasons for the observed different H E ðTÞ behaviors in our samples still require further research. 4. Conclusions We reported the magnetoresistive properties of NiMnSVs subjected to different thermal annealing. We observed a linear temperature MR-response for all the studied SVs. The exchange field of spin valves annealed at 453 and 553 K was found to be constant in the 20–300 K temperature range. Such stability should be related to the grain size of the MnNi layer. Acknowledgments Work supported in part by FEDER-POCTI/0155, POCTI/CTM/45252/02 and POCTI/CTM/59318/2004 from FCT and IST-2001-37334 NEXT MRAM projects. J.M. Teixeira and J. Ventura are thankful for FCT Grants (SFRH/BD/24012/2005 and SFRH/BPD/21634/2005). References Fig. 2. Temperature dependence of the angle between pinned and free layer magnetizations before the reversal of the free layer (increasing Hbranch). [1] [2] [3] [4] B. Dieny, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 136 (1994) 335. T.S. Lin, et al., IEEE Trans. Magn. 36 (2000) 2563. C. Loch, et al., J. Appl. Phys. 85 (1999) 4460. S. Mao, et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 69 (1996) 3593. ARTICLE IN PRESS e976 [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] J.M. 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