The Effects of Deposition Rates on Exchange Coupling and Magnetoresistance in NiO Spin - Valve Films

The effects of deposition rate on exchange coupling field Hex and coercive field Hc in NiO spin-valves are discussed. The Hex and Hc increased with deposition rate of NiO film. The rms roughnesses of the NiO deposited at 6 Å/min (NiO-Low) and 30 Å/min (NiO-High) were almost similar, however, the short-range roughness increased with the deposition rate. The Hex, He and surface morphologies for the modulated NiO spin-valve films such as NiO-Low＼NiO-High＼NiO-Low and NiO-High＼NiO-Low were investigated.