2008
DOI: 10.1063/1.2837622
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Pinholes in thin low resistance MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions probed by temperature dependent transport measurements

Abstract: Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with thin crystalline MgO(001) barriers displaying large tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) and low resistance-area product (R×A) will likely be used as the next generation sensors in read heads of ultrahigh density hard drives. However, the thin insulting barrier may result in the unwanted presence of metallic pinholes joining the two electrodes. Here we study the transport properties of thin MgO-based low resistance MTJs (barrier thickness, t=0.6nm), deposited by physical vapor d… Show more

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Cited by 12 publications
(8 citation statements)
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“…1b. This is in contrast to expectations for thermally assisted transport through an insulating barrier but is similar to R(T) behavior observed previously for AlO x and MgO-based MTJs, where it was attributed to defect-mediated conduction through the barrier [19,20]. This R(T) behavior is presently observed for all hBN-based devices (see Supplementary Information Section 2).…”
supporting
confidence: 85%
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“…1b. This is in contrast to expectations for thermally assisted transport through an insulating barrier but is similar to R(T) behavior observed previously for AlO x and MgO-based MTJs, where it was attributed to defect-mediated conduction through the barrier [19,20]. This R(T) behavior is presently observed for all hBN-based devices (see Supplementary Information Section 2).…”
supporting
confidence: 85%
“…For instance, if the barrier is crystalline and lattice-matched with the ferromagnets, spin filtering may occur (i.e., electrons with a particular spin state are transported preferentially) [2,11,12,13]. Alternatively, bonding or hybridization of the atomic orbitals at the FM/barrier interfaces can be the dominant factor that determines spindependent tunneling [2,11] while defects, impurities and pinholes in the barrier can open additional conduction channels, modifying the MR [14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22]. Using 2D materials as an insulating barrier between the FM electrodes is of particular interest, with atomically thin hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) currently being the material of choice: mono-or bilayer hBN has been shown to provide efficient spin-injection in graphene-based lateral spinvalves [3,23] and a few percent MR has been observed in MTJs with atomically thin hBN barriers [2,5,6].…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…Whereas, in electrodeposition of copper on barriers at defective sites, a high voltage should be applied to initiate the deposition process, which may lead to the breakdown of weak links in the barriers [10]. Similarly, Rowell criteria are not sufficient to rule out the presence of imperfections [14][15][16][17].…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 96%
“…5,6 Highly oriented MgO films serve as interlayer for an epitactic growth of ceramic superconductors on metals as well as for the manufacturing of composite superconductor-metal tapes. 7,8 For the synthesis of MgO films techniques like radio frequency (rf) sputter deposition, 9 physical vapour deposition, 10 pulsed laser deposition 11 ion beam assisted deposition 7,12 or chemical vapour deposition [13][14][15] have been applied so far. Wet chemical techniques often employ spray pyrolysis of precursor solutions.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%