Abstract
Perpendicular spin valves composed of [CoPt] multilayer and CoFeTbCo bilayer were fabricated. The perpendicular giant magnetoresistance ratio of 4.8% was obtained with current-in-plane measurements. The interlayer coupling increased with increasing the net magnetization of CoFeTbCo. We proposed a perpendicular pinning structure which possessed a high perpendicular coercivity (7000 Oe) but zero net moment. Consequently, the interlayer coupling between free and pinned layers can be significantly suppressed. This perpendicular pinning structure can be potentially used for high-density perpendicular magnetic random access memory cells. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.