Thermal variations in switching fields for sub-micron MRAM cells

Author

Bhattacharyya, Manoj ; Anthony, Thomas ; Nickel, Janice ; Sharma, Manish ; Tran, Lung ; Walmsley, Robert

Author_Institution

Hewlett-Packard Labs., Palo Alto, CA, USA

Volume

37

Issue

4

fYear

2001

fDate

7/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1970

Lastpage

1972

Abstract

Thermal effects in switching of sub-micron tunnel junctions are investigated. The switching field is shown to he inversely dependent on temperature, and switching field jitter is shown to be strong function of temperature. Micromagnetic modeling is used to understand thermal effects. In some instances a stability factor (defined as KV/kT) of 100 or more may be required for acceptable switching field jitter, while with proper optimization of FM layers, stability factors of 50 or 60 may suffice

Keywords

magnetic heads; magnetic multilayers; magnetic switching; magnetisation reversal; random-access storage; spin valves; thermal stability; tunnelling; field jitter; micromagnetic modeling; phenomenological damping; stability factor; submicron MRAM cells; submicron tunnel junctions; switching fields; temperature dependence; thermal variations; total energy; Dielectric materials; Disk recording; Jitter; Magnetic field measurement; Magnetic materials; Micromagnetics; Plasma temperature; Stability; Temperature dependence; Temperature distribution;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.951024

Filename

951024