The dependence of nano-contact magnetoresistance on the bulk scattering spin asymmetry in CoFe alloys with oxidation impurities

摘要

Nano-contact magnetoresistance (NCMR) spin-valves (SVs) using an AlOx nano-oxide-layer (NOL) have numerous nanocontacts in the thin AlOx oxide layer. The NCMR theoretically depends on the bulk scattering spin asymmetry (β) of the ferromagnetic material in the nanocontacts. To determine the relationship between NCMR and β, we investigated the dependence of NCMR on the composition of the ferromagnetic material Co1−xFex. The samples were annealed at 270 °C and 380 °C to enhance the MR ratio. For both annealing temperatures, the magnetorsistance ratio in the low-resistance area product region at less than 1 Ω μm² was maximized for Co0.5Fe0.5. To evaluate β exactly, we fabricated current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance SVs with Co1−xFex/Cu/Co1−xFex layers and used Valet and Fert's theory to solve the diffusion equation of the spin accumulation for a ferromagnetic layeron-ferromagnetic layer of five layers with a finite diffusion length. The evaluated β for Co1−xFex was also maximized for Co0.5Fe0.5. Additionally, to determine the difference between the experimental MR ratio of NCMR SVs and the theoretical MR ratio, we fabricated Co0.5Fe0.5 with oxygen impurities and estimated the decrease in β with increasing oxygen impurity concentration. Our Co_0.5Fe_0.5 nano-contacts fabricated using ion-assisted oxidation may contain oxygen impurities, and the oxygen impurities might cause a decrease in β and the MR ratio.