Ex situ CrPtMn pinning and ex situ CrPtMn pinned spin valves

Ex situ CrPtMn pinned bilayers and ex situ CrPtMn pinned spin valves have b een investigated by exploring the correlation between the pinning and depos ition process. It was found that exchange coupling is strongly related to t he deposition condition. The ex situ deposited CrPtMn can only reliably exc hange couple to the NiFeCo (or CoFe) when CrPtMn is deposited on it with an applied magnetic field. The exchange coupling is not seen as a strong func tion of the thickness of the removed NiFeCo (or CoFe) surface layer if the backsputter time is longer than 3 s. However, it is found that the giant ma gnetoresistance (GMR) value decreases with an increase of backsputter time, which is probably due to interface disruption during backsputter. It is fo und that 3-5 s backsputter can produce GMR values as high as in situ CrPtMn -pinned spin valves. The GMR value is around 8% for ex situ CrPtMn-pinned s pin valves with a configuration of Ta(30 Angstrom)/NiFe(45 Angstrom)/CoFe(1 0 Angstrom)/Cu(30 Angstrom)/CoFe(41 Angstrom)/CrPtMn(300 Angstrom). (C) 200 1 American Institute of Physics.