中国有色金属学报(英文版)
Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China
| Vol. 15 No. 6 December 2005 |
（College of Materials Science and Technology,
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China）
Abstract: A series of Co/Si/(Co/Cu/Co) multilayers and Co/Si/Co sandwiches were prepared by high vacuum electron-beam evaporation. It was found that a Si spacer (≥0.9nm) could greatly decrease the interlayer coupling in Co/Si/Co sandwiches and there was no magnetoresistance(MR) or spin-valve MR in them due to the high resistivity of Si spacer. While in Co/Si/(Co/Cu/Co) multilayers, we observed a spin-valve MR of about 0.5% through a nominal 2.7nm Si spacer at room temperature. The spin-valve MR in Co/Si/(Co/Cu/Co) multilayers was attributed to the enhanced spin polarization of conduction electrons caused by the top Co/Cu/Co sandwich with GMR mechanism and high spin-dependent scattering at Co/Cu interface.
Key words: spin-valve; magnetoresistance; multilayer; electron-beam evaporation
