Effect of diffusion barrier in the thermally annealed exchange-biased IrMn-CoFe electrode in magnetic tunnel junctions

Author

Yoo, Chung-Sik ; Jeong, H.D. ; Lee, J.H. ; Yoon, C.S. ; Kim, C.K. ; Yuh, J.H. ; Ando, Y. ; Kubota, H. ; Miyazaki, T.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mater. Sci. & Eng., Hanyang Univ., Seoul, South Korea

Volume

38

Issue

5

fYear

2002

fDate

9/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2715

Lastpage

2717

Abstract

Exchange-biased electrodes IrMn/Ta(2 Å)/CoFe/AlO_x and IrMn/CoFe/Ta(2 Å)-AlO_x used in a magnetic tunnel junction were annealed at 300°C to study the Mn diffusion characteristics. Auger electron spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the annealed electrodes show that the Ta diffusion barrier effectively blocked the Mn migration, regardless of the barrier location. Also concluded from the study was that the Mn migration is largely enhanced by the preferential oxidation of Mn.

Keywords

Auger electron spectra; MIM structures; X-ray photoelectron spectra; annealing; chemical interdiffusion; cobalt alloys; diffusion barriers; electrodes; electron spin polarisation; giant magnetoresistance; iridium alloys; iron alloys; magnetic hysteresis; magnetic multilayers; manganese alloys; oxidation; tunnelling; 300 C; Auger electron spectra; IrMn-CoFe; X-ray photoelectron spectra; chemical changes; diffusion barrier; hysteresis loops; magnetic tunnel junctions; manganese diffusion characteristics; preferential oxidation; thermally annealed exchange-biased electrode; thin barrier layer; thin-film stack; tunneling magnetoresistance; Annealing; Argon; Electrodes; Electrons; Magnetic materials; Magnetic tunneling; Oxidation; Spectroscopy; Sputtering; Tunneling magnetoresistance;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMAG.2002.803168

Filename

1042329