Sf. Cheng et al., MAGNETOSTRICTIVE EFFECTS IN CU CO/CU/FE SPIN-VALVE STRUCTURES/, Journal of magnetism and magnetic materials, 148(1-2), 1995, pp. 344-345
We have investigated the magnetoelastic response of a series of Cu/Co/
Cu/Fe multilayer films to applied stress by observing changes in the s
pin-valve magnetoresistance. The films were prepared by de magnetron s
puttering onto glass or polyimide substrates with individual layer thi
cknesses ranging from 35 to 50 Angstrom. The typical magnetoresistance
without external stress is about 1.2%. The strain induced by the appl
ied stress varies from + 1600 (tension) to - 1300 (compression) parts
per million. We observed a decrease (increase) of coercivity with comp
ressive (tensile) strain for both Fe and Co. This indicates that in th
e film plane, Fe and Co films have the same positive sign of magnetost
riction. The observed coercivity change is about +/- 10 Oe for the max
imum applied strain in both cases. The resulting maximum change in Del
ta R/R with a 1% strain is about - 0.018 (+ 0.012) at the coercive fie
ld of Fe (Go).