The Effects of Electrode and Annealing on CoFeB–MgO–TbFeCo Perpendicular Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

Author

Ye, Lin-Xiu ; Lee, Ching-Ming ; Lee, Jia-Mou ; Tseng, Wang-Ling ; Wu, Te-ho

Author_Institution

Taiwan SPIN Res. Center, Nat. Yunlin Univ. of Sci. & Technol., Yunlin, Taiwan

Volume

48

Issue

11

fYear

2012

Firstpage

2820

Lastpage

2822

Abstract

In this study, we report the effects of electrode and annealing on the magnetic properties of CoFeB-MgO-CoFeB-TbFeCo structures. The samples of structure bottom electrode/Co₂₀Fe₆₀B₂₀(x nm)/MgO(1)/Co₂₀Fe₆₀B₂₀(0 or 1 nm)/Tb2₃(Fe₈₀Co₂₀)₇₇(5 nm)/top electrode were deposited on SiO₂ substrates at room temperature. The structures were then annealed at the temperature ranging from 250 to 400°Cunder 5 kOe perpendicular applied field for two hours. We found that the magnetic properties of the CoFeB free layer depend on the electrode stack structures. The perpendicular magnetic easy axis of the CoFeB free layer can be maintained after annealing up to 400°C.

Keywords

annealing; boron alloys; cobalt alloys; electrodes; interface magnetism; iron alloys; magnesium compounds; magnetic hysteresis; magnetic tunnelling; nanomagnetics; terbium alloys; Ta-Ru-Ta-CoFeB-MgO-TbFeCo-Ta-Ru; annealing effects; electrode effects; electrode stack structures; free layer; magnetic properties; perpendicular magnetic easy axis; perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions; temperature 250 degC to 400 degC; temperature 293 K to 298 K; Annealing; Coercive force; Electrodes; Magnetic hysteresis; Magnetic properties; Magnetic tunneling; Saturation magnetization; Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs); perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; rare-earth-transition metal;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMAG.2012.2198624

Filename

6332996