Effect of interfacial specular electron reflection on the anisotropic magnetoresistance of magnetic thin films

Abstract

We investigated the effect of specular reflection on the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) of magnetic thin films. The sheet conductance is calculated as a function of the angle between magnetization and current from the microscopic transport parameters by using an extension of the Fuchs–Sondheimer theory. The calculation combines specular reflection on the film interfaces with mean-free paths which depend on the angle between the local magnetization and the electron velocity. The theoretical results are compared with experimental ones. Specular reflection can explain the quite large AMR amplitude observed in thin NiFe films used in the last generation of AMR heads.