The role of interfaces in NiFe/Cu/NiFe spin values

A sharp decrease of the giant magnetoresistance amplitude by interface roughening is observed in NiFe/Cu/NiFe/FeMn spin valves, which we attribute to the presence of high resistivity, compositionally intermixed regions at the NiFe/Cu interfaces. These results show that interfacial spin independent scattering must be included in the theory of GMR. © 1993.