Claims
- 1. A magnetoresistance effect element comprising:
- a substrate;
- a spin valve unit comprising a stacked film formed on said substrate, said stacked film including a first ferromagnetic film a direction of magnetization of which is pinned, a second ferromagnetic film the magnetization of which rotates with a signal magnetic field, and a non-magnetic film disposed between said first and second ferromagnetic films, wherein each of said first ferromagnetic film and said second ferromagnetic films, independently, contains a material selected from the group consisting of Co, CoFe, a CoNi alloy, a CoFeNi alloy and a NiFe alloy, and said non-magnetic film contains a material selected from the group consisting of Cu, Al, Pd, Pt, Rh, Ru, Ir, Au, Ag, CuPd, CuAu and CuNi;
- a magnetic film having a higher specific resistance than that of said second ferromagnetic film, formed so as to be in direct magnetic contact with a surface of said second ferromagnetic film, opposite to a surface which is in contact with said non-magnetic film; and
- a pair of leads for supplying a current to said stacked film.
- 2. A magnetoresistance effect element according to claim 1, wherein the specific resistance of said magnetic film is sufficiently high to suppress the reduction in the rate of change in magnetic resistance caused by a shunt effect.
- 3. An element according to claim 1, wherein said high-resistance magnetic film contains fine crystals containing at least one of nitrogen and carbon, and comprising at least one of Fe and Co as a main component.
- 4. An element according to claim 1, wherein said magnetic film contains an alloy made by adding at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Rh, Nb, Zr, Hf, Ta, Re, Ir, Ag, Pd, Pt, Cu, Mo, W, Ti, Cr and Au, to NiFe.
- 5. An element according to claim 1, wherein said magnetic film is made of an amorphous material.
- 6. An element according to claim 5, wherein said amorphous material is a material containing Co.
- 7. An element according to claim 1, wherein said first and second ferromagnetic films are not substantially magnetically coupled.
- 8. An element according to claim 1, wherein said magnetic film has an fcc phase.
- 9. An element according to claim 1, wherein said first or second ferromagnetic film contains Co.
- 10. An element according to claim 1, wherein said high-resistance magnetic film has a thickness of about 0.5 to about 10 nm.
- 11. An element according to claim 1, wherein said substrate has a surface roughness of about 5 nm or less.
- 12. An element according to claim 1, wherein the magnetization easy axis of said magnetic film is substantially perpendicular to the magnetization direction of said first ferromagnetic film.
- 13. A magnetoresistance effect element comprising:
- a substrate;
- a spin valve unit comprising a stacked film formed on said substrate, said stacked film including a first ferromagnetic film a direction of magnetization of which is pinned, a second ferromagnetic film the magnetization of which rotates with a signal magnetic field, and a non-magnetic film disposed between said first and second ferromagnetic films, wherein each of said first ferromagnetic film and said second ferromagnetic films, independently, contains a material selected from the group consisting of Co, CoFe, a CoNi alloy, a CoFeNi alloy and a NiFe alloy, and said non-magnetic film contains a material selected from the group consisting of Cu, Al, Pd, Pt, Rh, Ru, Ir, Au, Ag, CuPd, CuAu and CuNi;
- a magnetic film having a higher specific resistance than that of said second ferromagnetic film, formed so as to be in direct magnetic contact with a surface of said second ferromagnetic film, opposite to a surface which is in contact with said non-magnetic film, wherein said magnetic film has a specific resistance of about 50 .mu..OMEGA..cm or more; and
- a pair of leads for supplying a current to said stacked film.
- 14. A magnetoresistance effect element comprising:
- a substrate;
- a spin valve unit comprising a stacked film formed on said substrate, said stacked film including a first ferromagnetic film a direction of magnetization of which is pinned, a second ferromagnetic film the magnetization of which rotates with a signal magnetic field, and a non-magnetic film disposed between said first and second ferromagnetic films, wherein each of said first ferromagnetic film and said second ferromagnetic films, independently, contains a material selected from the group consisting of Co, CoFe, a CoNi alloy, a CoFeNi alloy and a NiFe alloy, and said non-magnetic film contains a material selected from the group consisting of Cu, Al, Pd, Pt, Rh, Ru, Ir, Au, Ag, CuPd, CuAu and CuNi;
- a magnetic film having a higher specific resistance than that of said second ferromagnetic film, formed so as to be in direct magnetic contact with a surface of said second ferromagnetic film, opposite to a surface which is in contact with said non-magnetic film, wherein said magnetic film contains a material selected from the group consisting of CoZrNb, FeZr, FeZrN, CoZrN, FeTaC and NiFeX, where X is selected from the group consisting of Rh, Nb, Zr, Hf, Ta, Re, Ir, Pd, Pt, Cu, Mo, Mn, W, Ti, Cr, Au and Ag; and
- a pair of leads for supplying a current to said stacked film.
Priority Claims (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
4-315648 |
Oct 1992 |
JPX |
|
5-78919 |
Mar 1993 |
JPX |
|
5-53605 |
Mar 1993 |
JPX |
|
5-53612 |
Mar 1993 |
JPX |
|
Parent Case Info
This is a Division, of application Ser. No. 08/44,258, filed on Nov. 1, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,978.
US Referenced Citations (12)
Foreign Referenced Citations (9)
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Country |
2-61572 |
Mar 1990 |
JPX |
4-49606 |
Feb 1992 |
JPX |
4-214207 |
Aug 1992 |
JPX |
4-280483 |
Oct 1992 |
JPX |
4-339309 |
Nov 1992 |
JPX |
4-321913 |
Nov 1992 |
JPX |
4-360009 |
Dec 1992 |
JPX |
4-358310 |
Dec 1992 |
JPX |
6-60336 |
Mar 1994 |
JPX |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
Physical Review B, vol. 45, No. 14, Apr. 1, 1992, pp. 7795-7804, W.F. Egelhoff, Jr., et al., "Antiferromagnetic Coupling In FE/CU/FE and CO/CU/CO Multilayers on CU(111)". |
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
144258 |
Nov 1993 |
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