Very low 1/f noise at room temperature in fully epitaxial Fe/MgO/Fe magnetic tunnel junctions

We report on room temperature 1/f noise in fully epitaxial Fe(45nm)/MgO(2.6nm)/Fe(10nm) magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with and without carbon doping of the Fe/MgO bottom interface. We have found that the normalized noise (Hooge factor) asymmetry between parallel and antiparallel states may strongly depend on the applied bias and its polarity. Both types of MTJs exhibit record low Hooge factors being at least one order of magnitude smaller than previously reported.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Magnetoresistance through a single molecule

The use of single molecules to design electronic devices is an extremely challenging and fundamentally different approach to further downsizing electronic circuits. Two-terminal molecular devices such as diodes were first predicted [1] and, more recently, measured experimentally [2]. The addition of a gate then enabled the study of molecular transistors [3-5]. In general terms, in order to increase data processing capabilities, one may not only consider the electron's charge but also its spin [6,7]. This concept has been pioneered in giant magnetoresistance (GMR) junctions that consist of thin metallic films [8,9]. Spin transport across molecules, i.e. Molecular Spintronics remains, however, a challenging endeavor. As an important first step in this field, we have performed an experimental and theoretical study on spin transport across a molecular GMR junction consisting of two ferromagnetic electrodes bridged by a single hydrogen phthalocyanine (H2Pc) molecule. We observe that even though H2Pc in itself is nonmagnetic, incorporating it into a molecular junction can enhance the magnetoresistance by one order of magnitude to 52%.Comment: To appear in Nature Nanotechnology. Present version is the first submission to Nature Nanotechnology, from May 18th, 201

Large inverse magnetoresistance in fully epitaxial Fe∕Fe3O4∕MgO∕Co magnetic tunnel junctions

International audienceFully epitaxial Fe(001)∕Fe3O4(001)∕MgO(001)∕Co micron-sized magnetic tunnel junctions have been elaborated on MgO(001) substrates. X-ray reflectivity and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed a good quality and epitaxial growth of the stack with abrupt interfaces. The magnetotransport measurements exhibit a large negative tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) value for magnetic tunnel junctions including an Fe3O4 layer and a MgO tunnel barrier (−8.5% at 300K and −22% at 80K). Moreover, the sign of the TMR changes with the applied bias. We discuss here the structural quality of the samples and the transport measurement results