Giant magnetoresistance in (Ni 80 Fe 20 /Cu) multilayers

Abstract

The dependence of the magnetoresistance (MR) ratio on the thicknesses of the magnetic (m) and non magnetic (nm) layers is studied for Ni80Fe20 /Cu soft magnetic multilayers with a fixed number of bilayers (12). The highest value of the MR is 17,3% at Cu layer thickness of 7 Å. Very high sensitivity, around 132%/kOe has been observed. We present a discussion of the MR results using the Johnson-Camley semiclassical model based on the Boltzmann transport equation.