Si/Ta/Co/Cu/CoFeMn sor NiOd spin valves were prepared by a delayed sputtering procedure, in which depositions of Ta and followed layers were intervened by 1 h. The spin valves are found to have better coherent growth with stronger s111d preferred orientations in Co and Cu layers, compared with the traditional continuous method. At the same time, the giant magnetoresistance ratio and spin-dependent scattering are enhanced by a factor of 20%-30%. These results indicate that the coherent growth and the s111d preferred orientation can enhance the spin-dependent scattering of spin valves.

The magnetic and electrical properties of crystalline Mn0.05Si0.95 films prepared by post-thermal treatment of the as-deposited amorphous Si-Mn s95 at.%−5 at.%d have been investigated. Both the temperature dependence and field dependence of magnetization were measured using superconducting quantum interference devices, and it has been indicated that the film materials are ferromagnetic with Curie temperature over 400K. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed full crystallization of the films and the incorporation of Mn into the host crystalline Si lattice. Behavior of thermally activated conduction processes of the films has been evinced by electrical property measurement for the films.

HgBa2Ca2Cu3O81 d (Hg-1223) superconducting thin films of about 0.3mm in thickness have been successfully synthesized. The process involves depositing films (1mm thickness) of Ba2Ca2Cu3Ox on a SrTiO3 substrate by pulse laser ablation technique and implanting mercury ions into this deposited film, followed by annealing at oxygen atmosphere. The films so obtained show a relatively wide superconducting transition temperature up to 118K, as determined magnetically, which is similar to that of underdoping bulk Hg-1223.

Cations of Y and Sr co-substituting for La and Ca at A site in La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 compound, a2/3−xYxCa1/3−ySryMnO3, were synthesized successfully by solid-state reaction. X-ray diffraction shows there is only one phase with the dopants of Y and Sr within x≤0.20 or y≤0.19. The lattice parameters along a-, b-, and c-direction remain almost unchanged with x≤0.20. The bond angle of Mn O Mn ncreases from 151.9 for x=0 to 172.7 for x = 0.20 monotonically, which indicates that the Jahn-Teller effect in MnO6 octahedron decreases with increasing x. The temperature dependence of resistance with/without magnetic applied were measured and fitted theoretically. The metal-to-insulator transition emperature, TMI, decreases with increasing the Y content with x≤0.10 while TMI increases slightly with further increasing x. The Y-content dependence of magnetoresistance shows a parabolic behavior. The maximum MR value corresponds to x=0.08-0.10.We attributed these variations in the structure and transportation to the cation disorder due to the cation doping.

The discovery of colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) 1 in thin film perovskite-like manganites has renewed interest in their possible use in device applications. 2 One of the crucial issues in thin film CMR manganites is the role of finite size effects related to structure on the thin film properties. Due to the restricted geometrical dimensionality of a thin film, a change in the layer thickness changes the metal-to-insulator transition temperature Tc. There exist several key areas for which we do not have a fundamental understanding of the physical processes that are occurring. Many of the problems arise from a poor understanding of the magnetism and structure at, or close to the interface region between the layer and the substrate.