Preoxidation As a General Approach to Suppressing Orange-Peel Coupling in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

W. F. J. Egelhoff, R. D. McMichael, C. L. Dennis, M. D. Stiles, A. J. Shapiro, B. B. Maranville, and C. J. Powell

IEEE Transactions on Magnetics 42(10), 2664-2666 (2006).

Abstract:

We have found that preoxidation of the bottom electrode prior to deposition of Al2O3 or MgO is very effective as a general approach to suppressing orange-peel coupling in magnetic tunnel junctions. When orange-peel coupling is suppressed, the hard-axis saturation field of the free layer is greatly reduced.



Keywords: magnetic tunnel junctions; orange-peel coupling; preoxidation

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