High magnetoresistance in sputtered Permalloy thin films through growth on seed layers of (Ni/sub 0.81/Fe/sub 0.19/)/sub 1-x/Cr/sub x/

The use of thin (Ni/sub 0.81/Fe/sub 0.19/)/sub 1-x/Cr/sub x/ seed layer for obtaining high anisotropic magnetoresistance in Permalloy (Ni/sub 0.81/Fe/sub 0.19/) films is reported. The process yields a high /spl Delta/R/R of for example, 3.2% for 120-/spl Aring/-thick NiFe, without high-temperature deposition or annealing. X-ray diffraction shows that the NiFeCr seed layer causes the formation of large [111] textured grains in the Permalloy film, and that the interface between these two layers is quite smooth. These both increase the /spl Delta/R and reduce the resistance R in the film, which lead to the high /spl Delta/R/R. Also discussed is the enhanced /spl Delta/R/R and thermal stability trilayer magnetoresistive sensors using this NiFeCr instead of Ta as a spacer.