Uniaxial anisotropy variations and the reduction of free layer coercivity in MnIr-based top spin valves

The effect of uniaxial anisotropy on the free layer coercivity has been studied on a MnIr-based top spin valve. Annealing and micro-patterning were applied to modify the anisotropy field. The anhysteretic magnetoresistance on magnetic field dependence has been obtained.