CPP-GMR: Materials and properties

Abstract

Measurements of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) in ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic (F/N) multilayers with current flow perpendicular to the layer planes (CPP geometry) can give better access to the fundamental physics underlying GMR than measurements with the more usual current flow in the layer planes (CIP geometry). Because the same measuring current passes through all of the layers, the CPP-MR can often be described by simpler equations that allow separation of effects of scattering within the bulk of the F- and N-metals and at F/N, N1/N2, and F/S (S = superconductor) interfaces. This chapter first describes the parameters that are used to characterize the CPP-MR, the different techniques used to measure these parameters, and the different types of multilayers used to control the two orientations of the magnetizations of adjacent F-layers, antiparallel (AP) and parallel (P), that permit isolation of the parameters. It then details what has been learned about the parameters of bulk F-metals, of bulk N-metals, and of F/N, N1/N2, and F/S interfaces. Especially important are the parameters of interfaces and the spindiffusion lengths in F-metals and F-alloys, about which almost nothing was known in advance. Lastly, it describes work toward CPP-MR devices and studies of magnetothermoelectric effects, before summarizing what has been learned and listing some items not yet understood.