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Published Online: 15 May 2015
Accepted: May 2015

Magnetic phase transitions in Ta/CoFeB/MgO multilayers

Appl. Phys. Lett. 106, 192407 (2015); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4921306
I. Barsukov1, Yu Fu2, C. Safranski1, Y.-J. Chen1, B. Youngblood1, A. M. Gonçalves1,3, M. Spasova4, M. Farle4, J. A. Katine5, C. C. Kuo6, and I. N. Krivorotov1
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Abstract
We study thin films and magnetic tunnel junction nanopillars based on Ta/Co20Fe60B20/MgO multilayers by electrical transport and magnetometry measurements. These measurements suggest that an ultrathin magnetic oxide layer forms at the Co20Fe60B20/MgO interface. At approximately 160 K, the oxide undergoes a phase transition from an insulating antiferromagnet at low temperatures to a conductive weak ferromagnet at high temperatures. This interfacial magnetic oxide is expected to have significant impact on the magnetic properties of CoFeB-based multilayers used in spin torque memories.
We thank J. Langer for magnetic multilayer deposition. This work was supported in part by FAME, one of six centers of STARnet, a Semiconductor Research Corporation program sponsored by MARCO and DARPA, by Intel through Grant No. 2011-IN-2152 as well as by NSF through Grant Nos. DMR-1210850 and ECCS-1002358. We acknowledge the Center for NanoFerroic Devices (CNFD) and the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI) for partial funding of this work. Funding by the DFG/NSF in the framework of the Materials World Network program is also acknowledged. A.M.G. thanks CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil for financial support.

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