Realization of Large Area Co20Fe60B20-Based Perpendicular Magnetic Tunnel Junction for CMOS Compatible Device Application

Mohamad G. Moinuddin; Aijaz H. Lone; Srikant Srinivasan; Satinder K. Sharma

doi:10.1021/acsaelm.9b00469

Realization of Large Area Co₂₀Fe₆₀B₂₀-Based Perpendicular Magnetic Tunnel Junction for CMOS Compatible Device Application

Mohamad G. Moinuddin, Aijaz H. Lone, Srikant Srinivasan, Satinder K. Sharma^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study reports the current-induced switching of a Co20Fe60B20/MgO/Co20Fe60B20-based perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction (p-MTJ) with a [Co/Pt]4 stack as a synthetic anti-ferromagnetic (SAF) layer. Electrical and spectroscopic evidence of p-MTJs reveals that the pinning of the Co20Fe60B20 layer by the SAF through a Ta spacer layer enhances the switching resistance after annealing at 650 K (375 °C). A drastic improvement of 6 times in the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) was observed after annealing in an external magnetic field (14% for as-deposited and 83% for annealed both for zero bias). The TMR also shows a gradual increased behavior with bias at room temperature, which may be attributed to the multi-domain switching with increase in current. The analogous SAF-based MTJ devices were modeled using the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) to validate the experimental results. The existence of a stable TMR and the low switching current density of the fabricated p-MTJ structures provides higher reliability and low-power operation. This makes it attractive for next-generation MTJ applications, especially for embedded memory, system-on-chip, IoT, and neuromorphic computing applications.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	2268-2278
Number of pages	11
Journal	ACS Applied Electronic Materials
Volume	1
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.9b00469
State	Published - Nov 26 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported under the financial support of IIT Mandi seed grant IITM/SG/SS/62. The authors thank the C4DFED and AMRC centers at IIT Mandi for providing device fabrication, characterization, and materials characterization facilities; the Nanoscience Centre, IIT Kanpur for assistance in X-ray diffraction analysis; Mr. Ratul Paul from Thermo-Fisher for depth profile analysis; and Dr. Mahesh Soni and Ms. Shivangi Shringi from SCEE, IIT Mandi for valuable discussions. MGM is supported under the “Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme” by MEiTY, India.

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society.

Keywords

increasing tunneling magnetoresistance
low switching current density
non-equilibrium Green's function
perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction
synthetic anti-ferromagnetic

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Electrochemistry
Materials Chemistry

Access to Document

10.1021/acsaelm.9b00469

Cite this

@article{7cf2024c07cf4f51af1d0a3f3491b288,

title = "Realization of Large Area Co20Fe60B20-Based Perpendicular Magnetic Tunnel Junction for CMOS Compatible Device Application",

abstract = "This study reports the current-induced switching of a Co20Fe60B20/MgO/Co20Fe60B20-based perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction (p-MTJ) with a [Co/Pt]4 stack as a synthetic anti-ferromagnetic (SAF) layer. Electrical and spectroscopic evidence of p-MTJs reveals that the pinning of the Co20Fe60B20 layer by the SAF through a Ta spacer layer enhances the switching resistance after annealing at 650 K (375 °C). A drastic improvement of 6 times in the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) was observed after annealing in an external magnetic field (14% for as-deposited and 83% for annealed both for zero bias). The TMR also shows a gradual increased behavior with bias at room temperature, which may be attributed to the multi-domain switching with increase in current. The analogous SAF-based MTJ devices were modeled using the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) to validate the experimental results. The existence of a stable TMR and the low switching current density of the fabricated p-MTJ structures provides higher reliability and low-power operation. This makes it attractive for next-generation MTJ applications, especially for embedded memory, system-on-chip, IoT, and neuromorphic computing applications.",

keywords = "increasing tunneling magnetoresistance, low switching current density, non-equilibrium Green's function, perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction, synthetic anti-ferromagnetic",

author = "Moinuddin, {Mohamad G.} and Lone, {Aijaz H.} and Srikant Srinivasan and Sharma, {Satinder K.}",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported under the financial support of IIT Mandi seed grant IITM/SG/SS/62. The authors thank the C4DFED and AMRC centers at IIT Mandi for providing device fabrication, characterization, and materials characterization facilities; the Nanoscience Centre, IIT Kanpur for assistance in X-ray diffraction analysis; Mr. Ratul Paul from Thermo-Fisher for depth profile analysis; and Dr. Mahesh Soni and Ms. Shivangi Shringi from SCEE, IIT Mandi for valuable discussions. MGM is supported under the “Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme” by MEiTY, India. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2019 American Chemical Society.",

year = "2019",

month = nov,

day = "26",

doi = "10.1021/acsaelm.9b00469",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "1",

pages = "2268--2278",

journal = "ACS Applied Electronic Materials",

issn = "2637-6113",

publisher = "American Chemical Society",

number = "11",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Realization of Large Area Co20Fe60B20-Based Perpendicular Magnetic Tunnel Junction for CMOS Compatible Device Application

AU - Moinuddin, Mohamad G.

AU - Lone, Aijaz H.

AU - Srinivasan, Srikant

AU - Sharma, Satinder K.

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported under the financial support of IIT Mandi seed grant IITM/SG/SS/62. The authors thank the C4DFED and AMRC centers at IIT Mandi for providing device fabrication, characterization, and materials characterization facilities; the Nanoscience Centre, IIT Kanpur for assistance in X-ray diffraction analysis; Mr. Ratul Paul from Thermo-Fisher for depth profile analysis; and Dr. Mahesh Soni and Ms. Shivangi Shringi from SCEE, IIT Mandi for valuable discussions. MGM is supported under the “Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme” by MEiTY, India. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society.

PY - 2019/11/26

Y1 - 2019/11/26

N2 - This study reports the current-induced switching of a Co20Fe60B20/MgO/Co20Fe60B20-based perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction (p-MTJ) with a [Co/Pt]4 stack as a synthetic anti-ferromagnetic (SAF) layer. Electrical and spectroscopic evidence of p-MTJs reveals that the pinning of the Co20Fe60B20 layer by the SAF through a Ta spacer layer enhances the switching resistance after annealing at 650 K (375 °C). A drastic improvement of 6 times in the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) was observed after annealing in an external magnetic field (14% for as-deposited and 83% for annealed both for zero bias). The TMR also shows a gradual increased behavior with bias at room temperature, which may be attributed to the multi-domain switching with increase in current. The analogous SAF-based MTJ devices were modeled using the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) to validate the experimental results. The existence of a stable TMR and the low switching current density of the fabricated p-MTJ structures provides higher reliability and low-power operation. This makes it attractive for next-generation MTJ applications, especially for embedded memory, system-on-chip, IoT, and neuromorphic computing applications.

AB - This study reports the current-induced switching of a Co20Fe60B20/MgO/Co20Fe60B20-based perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction (p-MTJ) with a [Co/Pt]4 stack as a synthetic anti-ferromagnetic (SAF) layer. Electrical and spectroscopic evidence of p-MTJs reveals that the pinning of the Co20Fe60B20 layer by the SAF through a Ta spacer layer enhances the switching resistance after annealing at 650 K (375 °C). A drastic improvement of 6 times in the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) was observed after annealing in an external magnetic field (14% for as-deposited and 83% for annealed both for zero bias). The TMR also shows a gradual increased behavior with bias at room temperature, which may be attributed to the multi-domain switching with increase in current. The analogous SAF-based MTJ devices were modeled using the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) to validate the experimental results. The existence of a stable TMR and the low switching current density of the fabricated p-MTJ structures provides higher reliability and low-power operation. This makes it attractive for next-generation MTJ applications, especially for embedded memory, system-on-chip, IoT, and neuromorphic computing applications.

KW - increasing tunneling magnetoresistance

KW - low switching current density

KW - non-equilibrium Green's function

KW - perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction

KW - synthetic anti-ferromagnetic

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85098026014&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1021/acsaelm.9b00469

DO - 10.1021/acsaelm.9b00469

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85098026014

SN - 2637-6113

VL - 1

SP - 2268

EP - 2278

JO - ACS Applied Electronic Materials

JF - ACS Applied Electronic Materials

IS - 11

ER -