Transport anisotropy in hetero-amorphous (CoFeB)–SiO2 thin films

Abstract

We here present resisitivity and magnetoresistance measurements of two granular (CoFeB)–SiO2 amorphous thin films, with a different amount of metallic content. The films were deposited onto substrates sitting on a rotating cylinder. This induces anisotropy in the film plane, which is higher for the sample with less metallic content. This film exhibits typical isotropic giant magnetoresistance (GMR), while the film with higher-metallic content has less anisotropic resistivity, and shows a mixture of GMR and anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR). The AMR appears at fields below 500 Oe. We believe that this has not been observed before in amorphous samples.