Magnetoresistive element having high out-of-plane sensitivity

Abstract

The present disclosure concerns a magnetoresistive element comprising a reference layer having a reference magnetization oriented out-of-plane; a sense layer having a sense magnetization comprising a vortex configuration stable under the presence of an external magnetic field and reversibly movable in a direction out-of-plane relative to the reference magnetization when the external magnetic field varies in a direction out-of-plane; and a tunnel barrier layer between the reference layer and the sense layer. The sense layer has a thickness smaller than 200 nm. The sense layer comprises a ferromagnetic material configured such that the sense magnetization is between 300 and 1400 emu/cm3 and such that the sense layer has a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy field that is greater than 1 kOe (79.6×103 A/m). The present disclosure further concerns a magnetoresistive sensor comprising a plurality of the magnetoresistive element.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.