The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 01, 2009
Filed:
Sep. 23, 2005
Kunliang Zhang, Milpitas, CA (US);
Dan Abels, San Francisco, CA (US);
Min LI, Dublin, CA (US);
Chyu-jiuh Torng, Pleasanton, CA (US);
Chen-jung Chien, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Yu-hsia Chen, Mountain View, CA (US);
Kunliang Zhang, Milpitas, CA (US);
Dan Abels, San Francisco, CA (US);
Min Li, Dublin, CA (US);
Chyu-Jiuh Torng, Pleasanton, CA (US);
Chen-Jung Chien, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Yu-Hsia Chen, Mountain View, CA (US);
Headway Technologies, Inc., Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
A CPP-GMR spin valve having a pinned layer with an AP2/coupling/AP1 configuration is disclosed wherein the AP2 portion is a FCC-like trilayer having a composition represented by CoFe/FeTa/CoFeor CoFe/FeCo/CoFewhere x is 3 to 30 atomic %, y is 40 to 100 atomic %, and z is 75 to 100 atomic %. Preferably, z is 90 to provide a face centered cubic structure that minimizes electromigration. Optionally, the middle layer is comprised of an Fe rich alloy such as FeCr, FeV, FeW, FeZr, FeNb, FeHf, or FeMo. EM performance is improved significantly compared to a spin valve with a conventional AP2 CoFeor CoFesingle layer. The MR ratio of the spin valve is also increased and the RA is maintained at an acceptable level. The coupling layer is preferably Ru and the AP1 layer may be comprised of a lamination of CoFe and Cu layers as in [CoFe/Cu]/CoFe.