Crystalline reconstruction in Ni–Cr–Fe/Ni–Fe films

It is found in this study that crystalline reconstruction occurs when a nonmagnetic Ni–Cr–Fe film and a ferromagnetic Ni–Fe film are sequentially deposited, but does not occur when the deposition sequence is reversed. This unexpected phenomenon causes the Ni–Cr–Fe/Ni–Fe films to behave more like a monolayer film that exhibits lower electrical resistance, stronger 〈111〉 texture, and larger polycrystalline grains than Ni–Fe/Ni–Cr–Fe films. This crystalline reconstruction causes an anisotropy magnetoresistance (AMR) sensor to exhibit a high AMR coefficient, and also causes a giant magnetoresistance (GMR) sensor to exhibit a high GMR coefficient. By controlling this crystalline reconstruction, GMR properties can be optimized for the proper operation of the GMR sensor.