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AM: Magnetismus

AM 3: Magnetowiderstand I

AM 3.7: Talk

Monday, March 26, 2001, 16:00–16:15, S 5.2

Combination of antiferromagnetically coupled Co/Cu/Co trilayers and magnetic tunnel junctions — •H. Brückl², T. Luciński^1,2, M. Justus², A. Huetten², and G. Reiss² — ¹Institute of Molecular Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan, Poland — ²Universität Bielefeld, Fakultät für Physik D2, Universitätsstrasse 25, 33615 Bielefeld

The Co/Al₂O₃/X tunnel junctions, where X denotes an antiferromagnetically coupled Co(d₁)/Cu/Co(d₂) trilayer structure with different Co layer thicknesses d₁ and d₂ were examined. The main goal of this study concerns the influence of the presence of the antiferromagnetically coupled trilayers on the switching field of the junctions. We have found that the switching field of the tunnel junctions with Co₁/Cu/Co₂ trilayers differs diametrically from the elements with single Co upper electrode. For the Co₁/Cu/Co₂ with d₂=1.4 nm, the switching field increases with increasing d1 thickness whereas for elements with d₁=1.4 nm and varying d₂ a maximum of the switching field is observed for d₂=4 nm. By minor loop measurements, we show the interplay of the orange peel coupling and the antiferromagnetic exchange coupling between Co₁ and Co₂ resulting in the observed behaviour of the switching field versus Co layer thickness in the tunnel element.