Minority band gap and magnetic properties of Co₂(Fe, Mn)Z (Z=A1, Ga, Si, Ge) in the context of CPP-GMR transport

Abstract

Recently, it has been demonstrated that CPP-GMR can be significantly boosted by incorporating new ferromagnetic (FM) full Heulser alloy into spin valve nano-structures[1-4]. Experimental results for two types of non-magnetic spacers (i) (100) textured Ag in combination with FM full Heusler alloys Co2MnSi, Co2Fe(Si-Al) [1], Co2(Mn-Fe)Si (70 % MR and DRA of about 12 mW-mm2) [2] and (ii) non-magnetic Heusler alloy spacers with Co2MnGe (MR of about 7 % and DRA of about 4.0 mW-mm2) [3,4] have been recently reported.