Thermal magnetization fluctuations in CoFe spin-valve devices (invited)

Thermally induced magnetization fluctuations in the Co86Fe 14 free (sense) layer of micron-sized, photolithographically defined giant magetoresistive spin-valve devices are measured electrically, by passing a dc current through the devices and measuring the current-dependent part of the voltage noise power spectrum. Using fluctuation-dissipation relations, the effective Gilbert damping parameter α for 1.2, 1.8, and 2.4 nm thick free layers is estimated from either the low-frequency white-noise tail, or independently from the observed thermally excited ferromagnetic resonance peaks in the noise power spectrum, as a function of applied field. The geometry, field, and frequency dependence of the measured noise are found to be reasonably consistent with fluctuation-dissipation predictions based on a quasianalytical eigenmode model to describe the spatial dependence for the magnetization fluctuations. The extracted effective damping constant α≈0.06 found for the 1.2 nm free layer was close to 3× larger than that measured in either the 1.8 or 2.4 films, which has potentially serious implications for the future scaling down of spin-valve read heads. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.