Critical Current Distribution in Spin Transfer Switched Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

The spin transfer switching current distribution within a cell was studied in magnetic tunnel junction based structures having alumina barriers with resistance-area product (RA) of 10 to 30 Ohm-um2 and tunneling magneto-resistance (TMR) of ~20%. These were patterned into current perpendicular to plane configured nano-pillars having elliptical cross-sections of area ~0.02 um2. The width of the critical current distribution (sigma/average of distribution), measured using 30 ms current pulse width, was found to be 7.5% and 3.5% for cells with thermal factor (KuV/kBT) of 40 and 65 respectively. The distribution width did not change significantly for pulse widths between 1 s and 4 ms. An analytical expression for probability density function, p(I/Ico) was derived considering the thermally activated spin transfer model, which supports the experimental observation that the thermal factor is the most significant parameter in determining the within cell critical current distribution width.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Spin Transfer Switching and Spin Polarization in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions with Mgo and Alox Barriers

We present spin transfer switching results for MgO based magnetic tunneling junctions (MTJs)with large tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio of up to 150% and low intrinsic switching current density of 2-3 x 10 MA/cm2. The switching data are compared to those obtained on similar MTJ nanostructures with AlOx barrier. It is observed that the switching current density for MgO based MTJs is 3-4 times smaller than that for AlOx based MTJs, and that can be attributed to higher tunneling spin polarization (TSP) in MgO based MTJs. In addition, we report a qualitative study of TSP for a set of samples, ranging from 0.22 for AlOx to 0.46 for MgO based MTJs, and that shows the TSP (at finite bias) responsible for the current-driven magnetization switching is suppressed as compared to zero-bias tunneling spin polarization determined from TMR.Comment: To appear in Appl. Phys. Lett. soo

Spin-Polarized Current Induced Torque in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

We present tight-binding calculations of the spin torque in non-collinear magnetic tunnel junctions based on the non-equilibrium Green functions approach. We have calculated the spin torque via the effective local magnetic moment approach and the divergence of the spin current. We show that both methods are equivalent, i.e. the absorption of the spin current at the interface is equivalent to the exchange interaction between the electron spins and the local magnetization. The transverse components of the spin torque parallel and perpendicular to the interface oscillate with different phase and decay in the ferromagnetic layer (FM) as a function of the distance from the interface. The period of oscillations is inversely proportional to the difference between the Fermi-momentum of the majority and minority electrons. The phase difference between the two transverse components of the spin torque is due to the precession of the electron spins around the exchange field in the FM layer. In absence of applied bias and for a relatively thin barrier the perpendicular component of the spin torque to the interface is non-zero due to the exchange coupling between the FM layers across the barrier.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Modulation of interlayer exchange coupling strength in magnetic tunnel junctions via strain effect

Interlayer exchange coupling of two ferromagnetic electrodes separated by a thin MgO tunnel barrier is investigated using magneto-optical Kerr effect. We find that the coupling field can be reduced by more than 40% as the thickness of a top Ta capping layer increases from 0.5 to 1.2 nm. In contrast, a similar film stack with an additional 3 nm Ru capping layer displays no such dependence on Ta thickness. Transmission electron microscopy study shows that the oxidation of the exposed Ta capping layer induces changes in the crystalline structures of the underlying films, giving rise to the observed reduction of the interlayer coupling field