Controlling of sub-/spl mu/m/sup 2/ domains in spin valve strips with conductor current

摘要

Nucleation and erasing of sub-/spl mu/m/sup 2/ domains in spin valve strips have been performed with current pulses applied through conductors. A spin valve material of NiFe/Co/Cu/Co was deposited by magnetron sputtering and patterned into sense lines of 40 parallel strips with 0.4 /spl mu/m width and 2 /spl mu/m pitch. Selective domain nucleation under parallel conductors with 1 /spl mu/m width and 2.6 /spl mu/m pitch has been confirmed by the current induced MR change. Pulses with opposite polarity performed erasing of nucleated domains. Reproducible MR change with a variation of /spl plusmn/10% relative to the mid value was realized in 10/sup 4/ operations of the domain nucleation process.