Heaven’s Light is Our Guide

Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Physics

Giant Magnetoresistance
(GMR)
Presented by Md. Faruk Hossain
Master of Philosophy (M. Phil.) Student
Department of Physics
Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology
Rajshahi-6204, Bangladesh

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 Outline
 Background Why is it useful?
 History of GMR Application of GMR
 What is GMR?  Hard Drives
 Types of GMR  GMR’s effect on hard
 Basic Mechanism drive industry
 Science of GMR  Advantages
 Discovery of GMR  Disadvantages

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 Background

 Ordinary magnetoresistance (OMR)

discovered in 1856 by Lord Kelvin

 Resistance of iron changes up to 5%

with external magnetic field

 Little progress in MR effect through

1980

Lord Kelvin
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 History of GMR
Experimentally Driven in
between 1986-1989

Theoretically Modeled in 1989

IT Applications into 1990’s

First Commerical Hard-Disks

with GMR Sensors (IBM) in 1998
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 What is GMR?
Way to control electrical
resistance at the nanoscale
using magnetic field

Nonmagnetic metal
sandwiched between
magnetic layers

Apply magnetic field

→ parallel magnetization Fundamentals of GMR
→ decreased resistance

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 Types of GMR
Parallel Current GMR
Current runs parallel between the ferromagnetic layers

Most commonly used in magnetic read heads

Has shown 200% resistance difference between zero

point and antiparallel states

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 Types of GMR
Perpendicular Current GMR
Easier to understand theoretically, think of one FM
layer as spin polarizer and other as detector
Has shown 70% resistance difference between zero
point and antiparallel states
Basis for Tunneling Magneto Resistance

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 Types of GMR
Two possible geometries film fabrication

Small thicknesses Small diameter

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 Basic Mechanism
The magnetization state controls to the electric current flow
Parallel alignment Antiparallel alignment
 low resistive  high resistive

RP = low RAP = high

IP = high IAP = low

- Resistance changes up to 80% at RT

- Widely employed in HDD read-heads and sensors

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 Basic Mechanism
Apply Newton’s third law “Actio = Reactio”:
The polarity of the electric current flow controls the magnetization state
Negative current Positive current
 parallel alignment  Antiparallel alignment

Electron flux

 parallel  antiparallel

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 Basic Mechanism
Electron spin & atom magnetic
moments in parallel → weak
scattering

Antiparallel → strong scattering

More scattering = higher

electrical resistance

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 Science of GMR
Parallel magnetization

Up-spin electrons experience

small resistance, down-spin
electrons experience large
resistance.

Total resistance is

2 R R
R para 
R  R
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 Science of GMR
Antiparallel magnetization

Both electron spins experience

small resistance in one layer
and large resistance in the
other.

Total resistance is

Rantpara  12 ( R  R )

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 Science of GMR
 Difference in resistance is given by:

2
1 ( R  R )
 Hence the GMR is given by:

R Rantipara  R para 
2 ( R  R )

2
1 ( R  R )
GMR R / Rpara 
4 R R

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 Discovery of GMR
Discovered by independently by Professor Albert Fert of
Université Paris-Sud in France and Professor Peter Grünberg of
Forschungszentrum in Jülich, Germany.
Both groups submitted papers to Physical Review in the summer of
1988.
Awarded Nobel Prize jointly in Physics in 2007

“Does the electrical

resistance depend
on the magnetization
alignment?”

Albert Fert Peter Grünberg

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 Discovery of GMR
Fert
60-bilayered Fe-Cr structure
at 4.2 K
Nearly 50% drop in resistance
observed!!

(FeCr)n, n=60

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 Discovery of GMR
Grünberg
Fe-Cr-Fe trilayer at room
temperature
1.5% drop in resistance
reported

Fe/Cr/Fe trilayer

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 GMR – Why is it useful?
Discovery and application of the GMR phenomenon is
responsible for the ubiquitous availability of economical,
high density information storage in our society.

Compact 160 GB MP3 players and 1 TB hard drives, now

widely available, owe their existence to GMR and
subsequent related advances.

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 Applications

⁕ Data storage industry

⁕ Automotive sensors
⁕ Magnetic field sensors
⁕ Read heads
⁕ Solid-state compasses
⁕ Non-volatile magnetic memories

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 Hard Drives
 Information encoded in
magnetic domains

 Spin up/down corresponds

to logic levels 0 and 1

 Read heads sense magnetic

fields: relay information as
electrical signals
Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
 Before GMR, used
induction coils and OMR
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GMR’s effect on hard drive industry

First GMR hard drive deployed:

 Deskstar 16 GP by IBM
 Date: 1997
 Storage: 16.8 GB
 2.7 billion bits per square inch.

largest hard drive in 2007:

 Deskstar 7K1000 by Hitachi
 Date: 2007
 Storage: 1 TB

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 Advantages
 Small physical Size
 Small weight
 Large signal level
 High sensitivity
 High temperature stability
 Low power consumption
 The GMR sensors are very accurate
 Faster devices

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 Disadvantages

 Interfernce of fields with nearest elements.

 Controlling spin for long distances

 Control of spin in silicon is difficult

 Difficult to INJECT and MEASURE spin

 Complex manufacturing

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 References
1. Day C. Physics Today. 2007; 60(12):12.
2. Tsymbal EY, Pettifor DG. In Solid state physics. 2001; 56:113-
237.
3. Binasch G, Grünberg P, Saurenbach F, Zinn W. Physical review B.
1989; 39(7):4828.
4. Baibich MN, Broto JM, Fert A, Van Dau FN, Petroff F, Etienne P,
Creuzet G, Friederich A, Chazelas J. Physical review letters.
1988 ;61(21):2472.
5. Xiao JQ, Jiang JS, Chien CL. Physical Review Letters. 1992;
68(25):3749.
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