Enhancement of room temperature-exchange biasing in specular spin valves

The exchange bias properties of the Co/sub 1-x/Fe/sub x/ natural-oxidized nano-oxide layer (NOL) in the specular spin valve system are investigated. The exchange bias energy (J/sub ex/) increased with the Fe content of the CoFe NOL. This result suggests that the enhancement of the pinning field/energy at room temperature was induced by the inserted NOL into the pinned layer. The enhancement of both the magnetoresistance ratio and the exchange bias field was realized by increasing the Fe content in the Co/sub 1-x/Fe/sub x/ NOL.