Method of manufacturing a spin valve structure
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
InventorsMurray Fulton Gillies, Antonius Emilius Theodorus Kuiper
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Abstract
The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a spin valve structure (1) of the GMR-type. Such a structure includes a stack of a magnetic layer (11a 11b), a nonmagnetic layer (15) and a sense layer (17) of a ferromagnetic material. In order to obtain a spin valve structure having a very good GMR effect the method comprises the following specific steps: oxidation of the ferromagnetic material of the sense layer; deposition of aluminium on the oxidized ferromagnetic material; oxidation of the deposited aluminium using oxygen from the oxidized ferromagnetic material.
Claims8
A method of manufacturing a spin valve structure of the giant magnetoresistive type, which structure includes a stack formed upon a nonmagnetic substrate such that a first edge of the stack is near the substrate and a second edge of the stack is away from the substrate wherein the second edge of the stack is formed of a magnetic layer, a nonmagnetic layer and a sense layer of a ferromagnetic material such that the sense layer is nearest the second edge, which method includes oxidizing the ferromagnetic material of the sense layer, followed by depositing aluminum on the oxidized ferromagnetic material of the sense layer, whereafter this aluminum oxidizes to an aluminum oxide film using oxygen from the oxidized ferromagnetic material of the sense layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.