Co/Cu spin valves electrodeposited on Si

Abstract Co/Cu spin-valve structures have been electrodeposited from a single bath directly onto n-type (1 0 0) Si substrates. The structures were based on the fact that Co layers on Si show a dependence of coercive field on layer thickness. By sandwiching a stack of 3, 5 or 8 hard antiferromagnetic-coupled Co/Cu multilayers between two soft Co layers, it was possible to obtain low-field-sensitive magnetoresistive structures, showing MR ratios ranging from 5.9% to 8.6%, as well as field sensitivities in the range of 0.10% Oe at 15–40 Oe. Samples with 8.6% MR ratio were obtained by stacking up to 10 magnetic layers.