Patent ID: 8653615

Claim:
A process to form a free layer as part of a magneto-resistive device, comprising: depositing a barrier layer and then depositing thereon a first layer of ferromagnetic material (MAG 1 ); depositing on MAG 1 a first antiparallel coupling layer; depositing on said first antiparallel coupling layer a second layer of ferromagnetic material (MAG 2 ); depositing on MAG 2 a second antiparallel-coupling layer; depositing on said second antiparallel coupling layer a third layer of ferromagnetic material (MAG 3 ) having a coercivity less than about 5 Oe and a negative lambda value that is more negative than about −2×10 −6 ; and magnetizing all three ferromagnetic layers in a manner such that MAG 1 and MAG 3 become magnetized parallel to one another and antiparallel to MAG 2 .