Electro- and magneto-transport properties of a single CoNi nanowire

The temperature-dependent electro- and magneto-transport properties of a single nickel-rich CoNi alloy nanowire (~200 nm in diameter) bridging microfabricated gold electrodes were investigated. The temperature coefficient of resistivity (TCR) for a single nickel-rich CoNi nanowire is low in comparison with pure Ni nanowires, and this might be attributed to a higher residual resistivity. The magneto-resistance (MR) of a single nickel-rich CoNi nanowire shows typical anisotropic behaviour, where the magneto-resistance ratio decreases with increasing temperature and, as expected, the value is much greater than for pure Ni nanowires. The angular dependence of the magnetization switching field (HSW) indicated that the magnetization reversal mechanism for CoNi nanowires at 300 K changed from curling to coherent rotation when the angle between the nanowire axis and the magnetic field direction is greater than 75 deg .