Patent ID: 7230802

Claim:
A method for controlling magnetostriction in a free layer of a magnetic memory device, comprising: forming a pinned layer; forming a separation layer over the pinned layer; forming a bilayer, composite free layer, the forming the bilayer, composite free layer includes: forming a first free layer of CoFe; and forming a second free layer of NiFe; wherein the forming the first free layer of CoFe and the forming of the second free layer of NiFe further comprises forming a thickness ratio of the first free layer of CoFe to second layer of NiFe by forming the first free layer of CoFe with a predetermined first thickness and forming the second free layer of NiFe with a predetermined second thickness, wherein the ratio of the predetermined first thickness to the predetermined second thickness is selected to provide a predetermined magnetostriction without changing the composition of the first or second free layer.