Electric Transport in Co-Rich Soft Magnetic Heterostructures

In this letter, a comparative electrical andmagnetic study between Co
₆₇
Fe
₄
Mo
₁
Si
₁₇
B
₁₁
/Au/Co
₆₇
Fe
₄
Mo
₁
Si
₁₇
B
₁₁
and Co
₆₇
Fe
₄
Mo
₁
Si
₁₇
B
₁₁
/Au/Ni heterostructures is presented. The heterostructures were deposited by means of dc magnetron sputtering. These samples consisted of three layers: a Co
₆₇
Fe
₄
Mo
₁
Si
₁₇
B
₁₁
layer with thicknesses of 30, 62, and 125 nm; a central Au layer with thicknesses of 5 nm; and a ferromagnetic top layer with thicknesses of 30 nm. Photolithography was employed to etch line patterns from 0.1 to 1 mm width and 1 cm length. The strip pattern induces a shape anisotropy in heterostructure. The magnetoresistance behavior suggests a correlation between electrical and magnetic properties as width function of the strip pattern.