Improvement of Gmr in NiFeCo/Cu Multilayers by a Layer - by - Layer Magnetic Field Sputtering

NiFeCo/Cu multilayers fabricated by an improved magnetic field sputtering were investigated in order to achieve the soft GMR (giant magnetoresistance) with a high sensitivity at low magnetic fields. A magnetic field was applied to the film during sputter-deposition, and its field direction was changed alternately from layer to layer. Such an alternate field sputtering is called hereafter layer-by-layer magnetic field sputtering. The best GMR characteristics (large MR at low magnetic fields) were achieved when the angle between the directions of magnetic field applied to neighboring two magnetic layers was 90°. As one of the speculation, it has been considered that the result is attributed to the induced composite magnetic anisotropy which causes the magnetization to occur more dominantly by spin rotation than by domain wall movement.