Effects of annealing on the GMR and domain structure stabilization in a Py/Cu/Py/MnIr spin valve

Abstract The thermal stability of magnetic and magnetotransport properties of a Py/Cu/Py/Ir20Mn80 spin-valve system were studied. The dependence of the magnetoresistance (MR) and the magnetic domain structures of the spin-valve on anneal temperature were measured. Domain imaging revealed that increasing anneal temperature leads to changes in the exchange coupling between the two ferromagnetic layers showing regions of antiferromagnetically coupled layers, which appeared in ferromagnetically coupled area after cooling.