Electronic structure of MgO/Fe(001) interface

Author

Plucinski, L. ; Zhao, Y. ; Sinkovic, B. ; Vescovo, E.

Author_Institution

Connecticut Univ., Storrs

fYear

2006

fDate

8-12 May 2006

Firstpage

863

Lastpage

863

Abstract

In recent years great technological advance took place in preparation of single crystalline magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with MgO(001) barriers. The theoretically predicted tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) at room temperature of several hundred percent in Fe/MgO/Fe(001) was met by the experimental values of 180 -220%. The surface X-ray diffraction measurements on MgO/Fe(001) indicate the existence of the interface partial FeO layer which could strongly influence the performance of MTI. The spin polarized photoemission spectra in the photon energy range hv = 30 to 130 eV of up to 5 monolayers of MgO deposited on Fe(001) by electron beam evaporation. Experiments were performed at the beamline U5UE of the NSLS equipped with the retarding Mott polarimeter. Spectra are compared to ab initio electronic structure calculations of Fe(001) surface and MgO/Fe(001) interface. These results on electronic structure of the MgO/Fe(001) interface are related to the performance of the MTJs.

Keywords

X-ray diffraction; ab initio calculations; electron beam deposition; electronic structure; iron; magnesium compounds; magnetic tunnelling; magnetoresistance; monolayers; photoelectron spectra; Fe; MTJ; MgO-Fe; Mott polarimeter; TMR; X-ray diffraction; ab initio calculations; electron beam evaporation; electronic structure; magnetic tunnel junctions; monolayers; photon energy; spin polarized photoemission spectra; tunneling magnetoresistance; Annealing; Electron beams; Iron; Magnetic tunneling; Physics; Polarization; Resonance; Synchrotrons; Temperature; Tunneling magnetoresistance;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Magnetics Conference, 2006. INTERMAG 2006. IEEE International

Conference_Location

San Diego, CA

Print_ISBN

1-4244-1479-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/INTMAG.2006.374894

Filename

4262296