MENU
  • Scitation Home
SUBMIT YOUR ARTICLE

Thank you

For your interest in Applied Physics Letters

Check for updates on crossmark
Prev Next
No Access Submitted: 28 May 2020 Accepted: 30 August 2020 Published Online: 23 September 2020

  • Controlling oxygen distribution of an MgAl2O4 barrier for magnetic tunnel junctions by two-step process

Appl. Phys. Lett. 117, 122409 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0015474
Shinto Ichikawa1, P.-H. Cheng2,3, Hiroaki Sukegawa2,a), Tadakatsu Ohkubo2, Kazuhiro Hono2,3, Seiji Mitani2,3, and Katsuyuki Nakada1
more...View AffiliationsView Contributors
  • Shinto Ichikawa
  • P.-H. Cheng
  • Hiroaki Sukegawa
  • Tadakatsu Ohkubo
  • Kazuhiro Hono
  • Seiji Mitani
  • Katsuyuki Nakada
ABSTRACT
An MgAl2O4 barrier with an ordered spinel structure for magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) was prepared via a two-step process by repeating Mg–Al alloy deposition and post-oxidation to tune its oxidation state. The obtained Fe/MgAl2O4/Fe(001) epitaxial MTJs showed a large tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio (>150%) in a wide resistance × area (RA) range; this behavior was in contrast with that of MTJs prepared through a conventional one-step process, which exhibited a large TMR ratio only in a narrow RA range. The bias voltage at which the TMR is halved from the zero-bias value increased up to 1.20 and 1.47 V for the positive and negative bias polarities, respectively, when optimizing the two-step process. The nanostructure analysis revealed an improved oxygen distribution on the atomic scale in the MgAl2O4 barrier with the two-step process, providing a coherent barrier suitable for various practical applications.
We are grateful to T. Scheike for his technical support with the sputtering process and K. Masuda and Y. Miura for their valuable comments. P.-H.C. acknowledges the National Institute for Materials Science for the provision of the NIMS Graduate Research Assistantship.

REFERENCES

  1. 1. H. J. M. Swagten, Handbook of Magnetic Materials, Vol. 17 ( Elsevier, 2007), pp. 1–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1567-2719(07)17001-3, Google ScholarCrossref
  2. 2. W. Butler, X.-G. Zhang, T. Schulthess, and J. MacLaren, Phys. Rev. B 63, 054416 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.63.054416, Google ScholarCrossref, ISI
  3. 3. J. Mathon and A. Umerski, Phys. Rev. B 63, 220403(R) (2001). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.63.220403, Google ScholarCrossref
  4. 4. S. Yuasa and D. D. Djayaprawira, J. Phys. D 40, R337 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3727/40/21/R01, Google ScholarCrossref, ISI
  5. 5. H. Sukegawa, H. Xiu, T. Ohkubo, T. Furubayashi, T. Niizeki, W. Wang, S. Kasai, S. Mitani, K. Inomata, and K. Hono, Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 212505 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3441409, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  6. 6. N. Matsuo, N. Doko, T. Takada, H. Saito, and S. Yuasa, Phys. Rev. Appl. 6, 034011 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.6.034011, Google ScholarCrossref
  7. 7. N. S. Krishna, N. Doko, N. Matsuo, H. Saito, and S. Yuasa, J. Phys. D 50, 435001 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/aa861b, Google ScholarCrossref
  8. 8. H. Sukegawa, Y. Kato, M. Belmoubarik, P.-H. Cheng, T. Daibou, N. Shimomura, Y. Kamiguchi, J. Ito, H. Yoda, T. Ohkubo, S. Mitani, and K. Hono, Appl. Phys. Lett. 110, 122404 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4977946, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  9. 9. M. Coll, J. Fontcuberta, M. Althammer, M. Bibes, H. Boschker, A. Calleja, G. Cheng, M. Cuoco, R. Dittmann, B. Dkhil, I. El Baggari, M. Fanciulli, I. Fina, E. Fortunato, C. Frontera, S. Fujita, V. Garcia, S. T. B. Goennenwein, C.-G. Granqvist, J. Grollier, R. Gross, A. Hagfeldt, G. Herranz, K. Hono, E. Houwman, M. Huijben, A. Kalaboukhov, D. J. Keeble, G. Koster, L. F. Kourkoutis, J. Levy, M. Lira-Cantu, J. L. MacManus-Driscoll, J. Mannhart, R. Martins, S. Menzel, T. Mikolajick, M. Napari, M. D. Nguyen, G. Niklasson, C. Paillard, S. Panigrahi, G. Rijnders, F. Sánchez, P. Sanchis, S. Sanna, D. G. Schlom, U. Schroeder, K. M. Shen, A. Siemon, M. Spreitzer, H. Sukegawa, R. Tamayo, J. van den Brink, N. Pryds, and F. M. Granozio, Appl. Surf. Sci. 482, 1 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.03.312, Google ScholarCrossref
  10. 10. M. Belmoubarik, H. Sukegawa, T. Ohkubo, S. Mitani, and K. Hono, Appl. Phys. Lett. 108, 132404 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4945049, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  11. 11. H. Sukegawa, Y. Miura, S. Muramoto, S. Mitani, T. Niizeki, T. Ohkubo, K. Abe, M. Shirai, K. Inomata, and K. Hono, Phys. Rev. B 86, 184401 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.184401, Google ScholarCrossref, ISI
  12. 12. Ikhtiar, H. Sukegawa, X. Xu, M. Belmoubarik, H. Lee, S. Kasai, and K. Hono, Appl. Phys. Lett. 112, 022408 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5013076, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  13. 13. R. Shan, H. Sukegawa, W. Wang, M. Kodzuka, T. Furubayashi, T. Ohkubo, S. Mitani, K. Inomata, and K. Hono, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 246601 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.246601, Google ScholarCrossref, ISI
  14. 14. T. Scheike, H. Sukegawa, T. Furubayashi, Z. Wen, K. Inomata, T. Ohkubo, K. Hono, and S. Mitani, Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 242407 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4904716, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  15. 15. T. Scheike, H. Sukegawa, K. Inomata, T. Ohkubo, K. Hono, and S. Mitani, Appl. Phys. Express 9, 053004 (2016). https://doi.org/10.7567/APEX.9.053004, Google ScholarCrossref
  16. 16. K. Masuda and Y. Miura, Phys. Rev. B 96, 054428 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.96.054428, Google ScholarCrossref
  17. 17. H. Sukegawa, K. Inomata, and S. Mitani, Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 092403 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4895104, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  18. 18. H. Sukegawa, S. Mitani, T. Ohkubo, K. Inomata, and K. Hono, Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 142409 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4824134, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  19. 19. M. Tsunoda, R. Chiba, and K. Kabara, J. Appl. Phys. 117, 17D703 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4906762, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  20. 20. B. S. Tao, H. X. Yang, Y. L. Zuo, X. Devaux, G. Lengaigne, M. Hehn, D. Lacour, S. Andrieu, M. Chshiev, T. Hauet, F. Montaigne, S. Mangin, X. F. Han, and Y. Lu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 157204 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.157204, Google ScholarCrossref
  21. 21. Q. Xiang, R. Mandal, H. Sukegawa, Y. K. Takahashi, and S. Mitani, Appl. Phys. Express 11, 063008 (2018). https://doi.org/10.7567/APEX.11.063008, Google ScholarCrossref
  22. 22. K. Yakushiji, A. Sugihara, T. Nakano, and S. Yuasa, Appl. Phys. Lett. 115, 202403 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5116055, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  23. 23. H. Sukegawa, J. P. Hadorn, Z. Wen, T. Ohkubo, S. Mitani, and K. Hono, Appl. Phys. Lett. 110, 112403 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4978663, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  24. 24. J. P. Hadorn, H. Sukegawa, T. Ohkubo, S. Mitani, and K. Hono, Acta Mater. 145, 306 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2017.12.018, Google ScholarCrossref
  25. 25. D. C. Worledge and P. L. Trouilloud, Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 84 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1590740, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  26. 26. G. Miao, Y. Park, J. Moodera, M. Seibt, G. Eilers, and M. Münzenberg, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 246803 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.246803, Google ScholarCrossref
  27. 27. C. Tiusan, M. Sicot, J. Faure-Vincent, M. Hehn, C. Bellouard, F. Montaigne, S. Andrieu, and A. Schuhl, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 18, 941 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/18/3/012, Google ScholarCrossref, ISI
  28. 28. M. Belmoubarik, H. Sukegawa, T. Ohkubo, S. Mitani, and K. Hono, AIP Adv. 7, 055908 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4973393, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  29. 29. S. Yuasa, T. Nagahama, A. Fukushima, Y. Suzuki, and K. Ando, Nat. Mater. 3, 868 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1257, Google ScholarCrossref, ISI
  30. 30. D. D. Djayaprawira, K. Tsunekawa, M. Nagai, H. Maehara, S. Yamagata, N. Watanabe, S. Yuasa, Y. Suzuki, and K. Ando, Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 092502 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1871344, Google ScholarScitation, ISI
  31. 31. Y. Miura, S. Muramoto, K. Abe, and M. Shirai, Phys. Rev. B 86, 024426 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.024426, Google ScholarCrossref
  32. 32. S. M. Hosseini, Phys. Status Solidi B 245, 2800 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1002/pssb.200844142, Google ScholarCrossref
  33. 33. S. Ju, Y. Miura, K. Yamamoto, K. Masuda, K. Uchida, and J. Shiomi, Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 023187 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.023187, Google ScholarCrossref
  1. © 2020 Author(s). Published under license by AIP Publishing.

Article Metrics

Views
956
Citations
Crossref 3
Web of Science
ISI 0

Altmetric

Please Note: The number of views represents the full text views from December 2016 to date. Article views prior to December 2016 are not included.