High sensitivity GMR with small hysteresis in Ni-Fe/Cu multilayers

Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect and magnetisation reversal processes h ave been investigated in Py/Cu(Py = Ni83Fe17, permalloy) multilayers (Mls) obtained by face-to-face sputtering method. The investigated films had cons tant sublayer thicknesses both for Py and Cu (d(Cu) = 2 nm, d(Py) = 2 nm) a nd various numbers of ferromagnetic sublayers. It has been shown that for s uch Mis a high held sensitivity of GMR effect (S approximate to 0.4%/Oe) an d negligible hysteresis can be obtained for a low number of Py layers. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.