Giant Magnetoresistance in Electrodesposited Nanogranular Thin Films

Abstract

In the present paper, an attempt has been made to briefly describe giant magnetoresistance (GMR) in electrodeposited nanogranular binary thin films with greater emphasis on the work carried out in the author's laboratory. High quality nanogranular thin films of Cu-Co system showing excellent metallic luster were galvanostatically electrodeposited in a single sulphate bath, under optimized processing parameters (i.e. deposition current density, bath temperature and pH). These parameters influence the composition and microstructure of the resulting films. Magnetoresistance measurements were carried out on both unannealed and annealed thin films deposited directly on n-Si or on conducting-glass/-AI 2 0 3 (used as second electrode). The rnicrostructural and magnetic measurements have suggested that an optimum distribution of size and separation of the magnetic particles can result in maximum GMR in such systems.