PERPENDICULAR GIANT MAGNETORESISTANCE OF MICROSTRUCTURED FE/CR MAGNETIC MULTILAYERS FROM 4.2 TO 300 K

Fabrication of pillar-shaped microstructures of high vacuum sputtered Fe/Cr magnetic multilayers has enabled us to measure for the first time giant magnetoresistance with the current perpendicular to the film plane from 4.2 to 300 K. At 4.2 K we find a magnetoresistance of 108% for multilayers with a Fe thickness of 3 nm and a Cr thickness of 1 nm. The pronounced temperature dependence of the perpendicular magnetoresistance is studied for samples with different Cr thicknesses and compared with current-in-plane measurements.