Giant Magnetoresistance in Obliquely Co-Evaporated Co-Ag Films

Magnetoresistance (MR) measurements at room temperature have been performed on obliquely (co-) evaporated Ag-Co films deposited at room- and elevated-temperatures. The ‘giant’ magnetoresistance ratio (max. 13% for a composition of about Co35Ag65) over a wide range of compositions has been measured. The films are polycrystalline and grown in a columnar morphology. The columnar diameter depends on the thickness and is < 20 nm at 400 nm thickness. From XRD, NMR and saturation magnetization (Ms) vs. at% Ag, one can conclude that the films consist of Co-Co and Ag-Ag clusters. The coercivity depends on the thickness of the films (100–700 nm) and varies from 5 to 15 kA/m.