Thin layer of MgO as seed layer used in MgO/Co2FeSi Heusler alloy tunnel junctions

Author

Chen, P.J. ; Shull, R.

Author_Institution

Nat. Inst. of Stand. & Technol., Gaithersburg, MD, USA

fYear

2015

fDate

11-15 May 2015

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

1

Abstract

This study examines the efficacy of adding a thin seed layer of MgO underneath the Co₂FeSi free layer below the MgO tunnel barrier to induce order in the cubic phase. The magnetic multilayers are grown via magnetron sputtering at room temperature with base pressure of 6.6×10^-7 Pa and vacuum annealed at 360°C for an hour. A current in-plane testing apparatus is employed to determine tunnelling magnetoresistance values. Magnetic hysteresis loops data indicate that the samples have anisotropic magnetization with an easy in-plane direction and the coercivity is inversely proportional to the seed layer thickness.

Keywords

annealing; cobalt alloys; coercive force; iron alloys; magnesium compounds; magnetic hysteresis; magnetic multilayers; silicon alloys; sputter deposition; tunnelling magnetoresistance; Heusler alloy; MgO-Co₂FeSi; anisotropic magnetization; coercivity; current in-plane testing; magnetic hysteresis loops; magnetic multilayers; magnetic tunnel junctions; magnetron sputtering; pressure 0.00000066 Pa; seed layer; temperature 293 K to 298 K; temperature 360 degC; time 1 h; tunnelling magnetoresistance; vacuum annealing; Magnetic anisotropy; Magnetic field measurement; Magnetic tunneling; Magnetization; Magnetomechanical effects; Metals; Tunneling magnetoresistance;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Magnetics Conference (INTERMAG), 2015 IEEE

Conference_Location

Beijing

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-7321-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/INTMAG.2015.7156902

Filename

7156902