| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/L39407/01 |
| Title: |
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPIN-VALVES FOR DEVICE APPLICATIONS |
| Principal Investigator: |
Hickey, Professor B |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Physics and Astronomy |
| Organisation: |
University of Leeds |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
16 July 1997 |
Ends: |
15 July 2000 |
Value (£): |
98,285
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Materials Processing |
Materials Synthesis & Growth |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
| Aerospace, Defence and Marine |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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This project is to use an existing IonTech sputterer resident in the department of Physics at Leeds to grow spin-valves that will be micro-patterned at Manchester. To use magnetic switching elements such as spin-valves in storage applications the devices must be made small and have good sensitivity. The permalloy based spin-valve is an ideal candidate and this project aims to explore ways of enhancing the sensitivity. We will concentrate on two types of spin-valve; the exchanged-biassed type using an antiferromagnet such as NiO and a Ferromagnet/Insulator/Ferromagnet tunnel structure that relies on different coercivities in the magnetic layers for the spin-valve effect. This latter structure is worthy of study as recent results have been reported of about 20% MR at room temperature and 5%/Oe sensitivity which makes them comparable to exchange-biassed sandwiches. We will embark on several aspects of fundamental research: temperature-dependant transport studies as well as xray and MOKE characterisation. We at Leeds have a good background in materials fabrication and transport studies while Dr Hill at Manchester has excellent lithography facilities and is already engaged in work on AMR magnetic sensors with his industrial partners.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.leeds.ac.uk |