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Compositional Change of MgO Barrier and Interface in CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB Tunnel Junction after Annealing
Journal of Magnetics, Volume 11, Number 1, 31 Mar 2006, Pages 25-29
Abstract
Recent experiments have demonstrated high TMR ratios in MTJs with the MgO barrier [1,2]. The CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB junctions showed better properties than the CoFe/MgO/CoFe junctions because the MgO layer had a good crystalline structure with (001) texture and smooth and sharp interface between CoFeB/MgO [3]. The amorphous CoFeB with 20 at%B starts the crystallization at 340℃[4] and this crystallization of the CoFeB helps obtaining the high TMR ratio. In this work, the compositional changes in the MgO barrier and at the interface of CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB after the CoFeB crystallization were studied in annealed MTJs. XPS depth profiles were utilized. TEM analyses showed that the MgO barrier had (100) texture on CoFeB in the junctions. B in the bottom CoFeB layer diffused into the MgO barrier and B-oxide was formed at the interface of CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB after the CoFeB crystallization.
Keywords: magnetic tunnel junction; MgO barrier; CoFeB electrode; interface analysis
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