Giant magnetoresistance in Ni-Fe/Cu multilayers formed by ion beam sputtering

Giant magnetoresistive effects have recently been found in various magnetic multilayered films. In Fe/Cr, CO/Cu and Co/Ru multilayers, the oscillatory magnetoresistance changes were observed as the thickness of the non-magnetic layer was varied. However, Ni-Fe based multilayers to show oscillatory magnetoresistance changes have not yet been reported. This study investigates Ni-Fe/Cu multilayers formed by ion beam sputtering. Ion beam sputtering has not been used much in the formation of the multilayers to show high magnetoresistive effects. We observed magnetoresistance oscillation as the thickness of the Cu layer changes in Ni-Fe/Cu multilayers. The Ni-Fe(1 nm) / Cu(1 nm) multilayer shows magnetoresistance of 18.8% at room temperature.