Patent ID: 6496337
Filing Date: 2002-12-17
Classification: B82Y,G11B,H01F

Abstract:
A process for manufacturing a spin valve structure, comprising:providing a substrate; on said substrate, depositing a seed layer, selected from the group consisting of tantalum, an alloy of nickel and iron, an alloy of nickel, iron, and chromium, and of zirconium; depositing a seed enhancement layer, further comprising a material having a face-centered-cubic crystal structure, on the seed layer; depositing a free layer on the seed enhancement layer; depositing a layer of copper on the free layer; depositing a magnetically pinned layer on the copper layer; depositing a pinning layer on said pinned layer; and depositing a cap layer on the pinning layer, thereby forming a spin valve structure that keeps the same GMR ratio for CoFe and CoFeX free layers whose thickness is down to about 10 Angstroms.