Effects of grain cluster size on coercivity and giant magnetoresistance of NiFe/Cu/CoFe/Cu/NiFe pseudo spin valves

The effects of grain cluster size on the coercivity (H-c) and giant magnetoresistance in NiFe/Cu/CoFe/Cu/NiFe pseudo spin valves for magnetic random access memory devices has been investigated as a function of the Ar sputtering gas pressure which affects the interfacial roughness and magnetic coercivity differences. It is found that the grain cluster size induced by the differences in the kinetic energy of the sputtered adatoms at different gas pressure plays a crucial role in determining the H-c of NiFe/CoFe bilayers and magnetic interlayer coupling in Si/NiFe/Cu/CoFe/Cu/NiFe pseudo spin valves. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)05047-6].