Rapid thermal annealing study of magnetoresistance and perpendicular anisotropy in magnetic tunnel junctions based on MgO and CoFeB

Wei Gang Wang; Stephen Hageman; Mingen Li; Sunxiang Huang; Xiaoming Kou; Xin Fan; John Q. Xiao; C. L. Chien

doi:10.1063/1.3634026

Rapid thermal annealing study of magnetoresistance and perpendicular anisotropy in magnetic tunnel junctions based on MgO and CoFeB

Wei Gang Wang, Stephen Hageman, Mingen Li, Sunxiang Huang, Xiaoming Kou, Xin Fan, John Q. Xiao, C. L. Chien

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

62 Scopus citations

Abstract

The tunneling magnetoresistance and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in CoFeB(1.1-1.2 nm)/MgO/CoFeB(1.2-1.7 nm) junctions were found to be very sensitively dependent on annealing time. During annealing at a given temperature, decay of magnetoresistance occurs much earlier compared to junctions with in-plane magnetic anisotropy. Through a rapid thermal annealing study, the decrease of magnetoresistance is found to be associated with the degradation of perpendicular anisotropy, instead of impurity diffusion as observed in common in-plane junctions. The origin of the evolution of perpendicular anisotropy as well as possible means to further enhance tunneling magnetoresistance is discussed.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	102502
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Volume	99
Issue number	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3634026
State	Published - Sep 5 2011
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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10.1063/1.3634026

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title = "Rapid thermal annealing study of magnetoresistance and perpendicular anisotropy in magnetic tunnel junctions based on MgO and CoFeB",

abstract = "The tunneling magnetoresistance and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in CoFeB(1.1-1.2 nm)/MgO/CoFeB(1.2-1.7 nm) junctions were found to be very sensitively dependent on annealing time. During annealing at a given temperature, decay of magnetoresistance occurs much earlier compared to junctions with in-plane magnetic anisotropy. Through a rapid thermal annealing study, the decrease of magnetoresistance is found to be associated with the degradation of perpendicular anisotropy, instead of impurity diffusion as observed in common in-plane junctions. The origin of the evolution of perpendicular anisotropy as well as possible means to further enhance tunneling magnetoresistance is discussed.",

author = "Wang, {Wei Gang} and Stephen Hageman and Mingen Li and Sunxiang Huang and Xiaoming Kou and Xin Fan and Xiao, {John Q.} and Chien, {C. L.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Dorrie Bright for the help during the initial part of this research. This work is supported by NSF DMR05-20491 and DOE DE-FG02-07ER46374. ",

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doi = "10.1063/1.3634026",

language = "English (US)",

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T1 - Rapid thermal annealing study of magnetoresistance and perpendicular anisotropy in magnetic tunnel junctions based on MgO and CoFeB

AU - Wang, Wei Gang

AU - Hageman, Stephen

AU - Li, Mingen

AU - Huang, Sunxiang

AU - Kou, Xiaoming

AU - Fan, Xin

AU - Xiao, John Q.

AU - Chien, C. L.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Dorrie Bright for the help during the initial part of this research. This work is supported by NSF DMR05-20491 and DOE DE-FG02-07ER46374.

PY - 2011/9/5

Y1 - 2011/9/5

N2 - The tunneling magnetoresistance and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in CoFeB(1.1-1.2 nm)/MgO/CoFeB(1.2-1.7 nm) junctions were found to be very sensitively dependent on annealing time. During annealing at a given temperature, decay of magnetoresistance occurs much earlier compared to junctions with in-plane magnetic anisotropy. Through a rapid thermal annealing study, the decrease of magnetoresistance is found to be associated with the degradation of perpendicular anisotropy, instead of impurity diffusion as observed in common in-plane junctions. The origin of the evolution of perpendicular anisotropy as well as possible means to further enhance tunneling magnetoresistance is discussed.

AB - The tunneling magnetoresistance and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in CoFeB(1.1-1.2 nm)/MgO/CoFeB(1.2-1.7 nm) junctions were found to be very sensitively dependent on annealing time. During annealing at a given temperature, decay of magnetoresistance occurs much earlier compared to junctions with in-plane magnetic anisotropy. Through a rapid thermal annealing study, the decrease of magnetoresistance is found to be associated with the degradation of perpendicular anisotropy, instead of impurity diffusion as observed in common in-plane junctions. The origin of the evolution of perpendicular anisotropy as well as possible means to further enhance tunneling magnetoresistance is discussed.

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Rapid thermal annealing study of magnetoresistance and perpendicular anisotropy in magnetic tunnel junctions based on MgO and CoFeB

Abstract

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