| Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 55, Number 3, August 2001
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 439 - 444 | |
| Section | Interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2001-00433-3 | |
| Published online | 01 December 2003 | |
Observation of change in the oxidation state at ferromagnet/insulator interface upon thermal annealing
1
Department of Physics, University of Connecticut 2152 Hillside Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
2
Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439, USA
3
IBM Almaden Research Center - 650 Harry Road San Jose, CA 95120, USA
Received:
15
December
2000
Accepted:
28
May
2001
It is reported that the magnetoresistance (MR) of magnetic tunneling
junction (MTJ) like 
improves
upon thermal annealing. We investigate the mechanism of this
improvement by comparing the X-ray absorption spectra (XAS) of
half-MTJ structures (
/
) before and
after annealing. Before annealing, XAS show the presence of few angstroms
of 
- and 
-oxides, which disappeared after annealing
at 250 °C for 1/2 hour. We attribute enhanced MR upon annealing
to the disappearance of and oxides at the
interface which reduce the spin-polarization of the conduction
electrons and cause spin-flip scattering, both leading to inferior
performance of MTJ.
PACS: 85.75.Ss – Magnetic field sensors using spin polarized transport / 82.65.+r – Surface and interface chemistry; heterogeneous catalysis at surfaces / 81.05.Je – Ceramics and refractories (including borides, carbides, hydrides, nitrides, oxides, and silicides)
© EDP Sciences, 2001
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