Thin Film of Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) Material Prepared by Sputtering Method

Abstract

In recent decades, a new magnetic sensor based on magnetoresistance effect is highly researched and developed intensively. GMR material has great potential as next generation magnetic field sensing devices. It has also good magnetic and electric properties, and high potential to be developed into various applications of electronic devices such as: magnetic field sensor, current measurements, linear and rotational position sensor, data storage, head recording, and non-volatile magnetic random access memory. GMR material can be developed to be solid state magnetic sensors that are widely used in low field magnetic sensing applications. A solid state magnetic sensor can directly convert magnetic field into resistance, which can be easily detected by applying a sense current or voltage. Generally, there are many sensors for measuring the low magnetic field, such as: fluxgate sensor, Hall sensor, induction coil, GMR sensor, and SQUID sensor. Compared to other low magnetic field sensing techniques, solid state sensors have demonstrated many advantages, such as: small size (<0.1mm2), low power, high sensitivity (~0.1Oe) and good compatibility with CMOS technology. The thin film of GMR is usually prepared using: sputtering, electro deposition or molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) techniques. But so far, not many researchers reported the manufacture of thin film of GMR by dc-Opposed Target Magnetron Sputtering (dc-OTMS). In this paper, we inform the development of GMR thin film with sandwich and spin valve structures using dc-OTMS method. We have also developed organic GMR with Alq3 as a spacer layer.