Current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistive properties in Co2Mn(Ge0.75Ga0.25)/Cu2TiAl/Co2Mn(Ge0.75Ga0.25) all-Heusler alloy pseudo spin valve

Abstract

Nonmagnetic Cu2TiAl (CTA) Heusler compound is proposed as a new spacer material for all-Heusler alloy current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance devices based on first-principle calculations. The (001)-orientated Co2Mn(Ge0.75Ga0.25) (CMGG)/CTA/CMGG epitaxial pseudo spin valve (PSV) grown on MgO(100) single crystal substrate showed relatively large MR output, ΔRA∼5.4 mΩ μm2, which is comparable to that of the CMGG/Ag/CMGG PSV prepared with the same condition. Considering the short spin diffusion length in CTA, this result indicates a better electronic band matching for the CTA/CMGG interface than the Ag/CMGG interface in agreement with the first-principle calculation results. (001)- and (011)-orientated CMGG/CTA/CMGG PSV show similar MR outputs, indicating that the CTA spacer suppresses the orientation dependence of MR output which is usually observed in Ag-spacer CPP-PSV.