A Study of Resistance and Magnetoresistance in Nickel-Iron Thin Films

Experiments are reported in which (1) the resistivity has been measured as a function of thickness in 82–18 nickel-iron thin films; (2) the ferromagnetic resistance anisotropy and the fractional anisotropy in magnetoresistance have been measured as a function of thickness; (3) the fractional anisotropy in magnetoresistance is measured as a function of temperature. The resistivity exhibits a higher value and lower mean free path than earlier measurements due to a different method of evaporation. Furthermore the functional dependence of the ferromagnetic anisotropy in resistivity and the fractional anisotropy in magnetoresistance are shown to be dependent on the method of evaporation. The fractional anisotropy in magnetoresistance is observed to fall off approximately linearly with temperature in the range from 20°C to 300°C, and to approach zero at a temperature well below the Curie point.