Patent ID: 6876522

Claim:
A giant magnetoresistive spin valve sensor for sensing a magnetic flux, comprising: a pinning layer; a first ferromagnetic layer of a first Heusler alloy extending in a first plane adjacent the pinning layer; a second ferromagnetic layer of a second Heusler alloy extending in a second plane generally parallel with the first plane; and a non-ferromagnetic spacer layer between the first ferromagnetic layer and the second ferromagnetic layer of a non-ferromagnetic Heusler-like alloy comprising an alloy having a crystal structure of a Heusler alloy without the presence of MN and having an energy band sufficiently similar to energy bands of the first Heusler alloy and the second Heusler alloy to provide asymmetry in majority and minority spin states and selective scatter of electrons at interfaces between the ferromagnetic layers and the non-ferromagnetic spacer layer and thereby allow a giant magnetoresistive effect to occur in the presence of a magnetic field.