Antiferromagnetic Coupling in Sputtered MgO Tunnel Junctions With Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy

Author

Nistor, Lavinia E. ; Rodmacq, Bernard ; Auffret, Stéphane ; Schuhl, Alain ; Dieny, Bernard

Author_Institution

SPINTEC CEA/CNRS/UJF/INPG, INAC-CEA Grenoble, Grenoble, France

Volume

45

Issue

10

fYear

2009

Firstpage

3472

Lastpage

3475

Abstract

Antiferromagnetic coupling between magnetic electrodes has been observed in non-epitaxial perpendicularly magnetized MgO tunnel junctions. This coupling becomes less negative with increasing annealing temperature up to 375degC. This can be possibly related to homogeneization of oxygen in the barrier and de-oxidation of the magnetic electrodes. However, the evolution of coupling field with both barrier and electrode thickness doesn´t agree with existing coupling theories. Similar structures with in-plane magnetized electrodes exhibit classical ferromagnetic coupling.

Keywords

annealing; antiferromagnetic materials; magnesium compounds; magnetic tunnelling; perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; sputtered coatings; MgO; annealing; antiferromagnetic coupling; classical ferromagnetic coupling; deoxidation; electrode thickness; homogeneization; magnetic electrodes; nonepitaxial perpendicularly magnetized tunnel junctions; perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; sputtered deposition; Antiferromagnetic coupling; magnetic tunnel junctions; perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; thermal annealing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMAG.2009.2025519

Filename

5257054