• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.271-275
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• 2006

We investigated the magnetoresistance of perpendicularly magnetized magnetic tunnel junction composed of Co/Pd multilayers. The magnetoresistance was maximized with Co electrodes of about 5 nm thickness, which evidenced the important role of the interface in tunneling process. Both the change in perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and improvement of junction resistance were observed with changing Co sublayers, while the spin scattering became dominant with increasing Pd sublayers.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 1998

We have investigated tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) properties of Fe/$Al_2O_3$/Co magnetic trilayer junctions sputtered on single-crystal Si (001) substrates. $Al_2O_3$ layers with thicknesses of 50~200 $\AA$ were deposited directly on the bottom ferromagnetic layer by a reactive rf sputtering. For comparsion, we prepared Pt/$Al_2O_3$/Pt tunnel junctions whose current-voltage (I-V) characteristics measured at 300 K indicated that reactively sputtered $Al_2O_3$ is a particularly good material for thin insulating barriers and allows us to form pinhole-free tunnel barriers. The magnetic tunnel junctions exhibit changes of tunnel resistance of about 0.1% at 300 K with an applied magnetic field and it was found that most junctions with Co as a top electrode have rather good I-V and TMR characteristics compared to those with Fe as a electrode. These results were discussed in relation to interfacial on the basis of those for Pt/$Al_2O_3$/Pt.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.136-139
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• 2006

The tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) ratios of magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), in general, decrease abruptly above 250$^{\circ}C$ due to Mn interdiffusion from an antiferromagnet IrMn layer to a ferromagnetic CoFe and/or a tunnel barrier. To improve thermal stability, we prepared MTJs with nano-oxide layers. Using a MTJ structure consisting of underlayer CoNbZr 4/bufferlayer CoFe 10/antiferromaget IrMn 7.5/pinned layer CoFe 3/tunnel barrier AlO/freelayer CoFe 3/capping CoNbZr 2 (nm), we placed a nano-oxide layer (NOL) into the underlayer or bufferlayer. Then, the thermal, structural and magneto-electric properties were measured. The TMR ratio, surface flatness, and thermal stability of the MTJs with NOLs were promoted.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.196-201
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• 2001

The dependence of CoFe interfacial layer thickness and plasma oxidation condition on tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) in Ta/NiFe/FeMn/NiFe/Al$_2$O$_3$/NiFe/Ta tunnel junctions was investigated. As the CoFe layer thickness increases, TMR ratio rapidly increases to 13.7 % and decreases with further increase of the CoFe layer thickness. The increase of TMR with the CoFe thickness up to 25 was thought to be due mails to the high spin-polarization of CoFe. The maximum MR of 15.3% was obtained in the Si(100)/Ta(50 )/NiFe(60 )/FeMn(250 )/NiFe(70 )/Al$_2$O$_3$/NiFe(150 )/Ta(50 ) magnetic tunnel junction with a 16 Al oxidized for 40 sec using a Ar/O$_2$ (1:4) mixture gas.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.29-33
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• 1993

Magnetoresistance was studied for the ferromagnetic tunneling junction in $Permalloy/Al_{2}O_{3}/Co$ prepared by evaporation in a vacuum of $1{\times}10^{-6}$Torr. We measured voltage-current characteristic and magnetic valve effect of prepared ferromagnetic tunneling junction sample. We investigated field-dependency of tunnel resistance by Wheat-stone bridge method and measured magnetic hysteresis curve by vibrating sample magnetometer. The tunneling is confirmed by measuring voltage-current characteristic. The hysteresis curve of magnetoresistance corresponds well with that of magnetization. The magnetoresistance ratio ${\Delta}R/R$ is 0.6% at room temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.231-235
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• 2005

We studied the microstructural evolution of ZrTM-Al (TM=Nb and Ti) alloy films, MR and electrical properties of the MTJ with $ZrTM-AlO_x$ barrier as a function of Zr/TM ratio. We observed that the ternary-oxide barrier reduced the TMR ratio due mainly to the structural defects such as the surface roughness. The change in TMR ratio and $V_h$ with Zr/TM ratio exactly corresponds to the systematic changes in the microstructural variation. Although the MTJ with ternary oxide reduced the TMR and the electrical stabilities, the junction resistances decreased as the Ti and Nb concentration increased due to the band-gap reduction caused by the formation of extra bands

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.57-62
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• 2011

We have studied the electrical and magnetic transport properties of tunneling device with FePt magnetic quantum dots. The FePt nanoparticles with a diameter of 8~15 nm were embedded in a $SiO_2$ layer through thermal annealing process at temperature of $800^{\circ}C$ in $N_2$ gas ambient. The electrical properties of the tunneling device were characterized by current-voltage (I-V) measurements under the perpendicular magnetic fields at various temperatures. The nonlinear I-V curves appeared at 20 K, and then it was explained as a conductance blockade by the electron hopping model and tunneling effect through the quantum dots. It was measured also that the negative magneto-resistance ratio increased about 26.2% as increasing external magnetic field up to 9,000 G without regard for an applied electric voltage.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.186-191
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• 2006

Ferromagnetic amorphous $Ni_{16}Fe_{62}Si_8B_{14}$ and $Co_{70.5}Fe_{4.5}Si_{15}B_{10}$ layers have been devised and incorporated as free layers of magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) to improve MRAM reading and writing performance. The NiFeSiB and CoFeSiB single-layer film exhibited a lower saturation magnetization ($Ms=800emu/cm^3,\;and\;560emu/cm^3$, respectively) compared to that of a $Co_{90}Fe_{10}(Ms=1400emu/cm^3)$. Because amorphous ferromagnetic materials have lower Ms than crystalline ones, the MTJs incorporating amorphous ferromagnetic materials offer lower switching field ($H_{sw}$) values than that of the traditional CoFe-based MTJ. The double-barrier MTJ with an amorphous NiFeSiB free layer offered smooth surface resulting in low bias voltage dependence, and high $V_h\;and\;V_{bd}$ compared with the values of the traditional CoFe-based MTJ.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.162-165
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• 2007

We investigated the effects of the capping layer materials on the crystallization of the amorphous top-CoFeB (t-CoFeB) electrode and the magnetoresistance properties of the magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). When the hcp(002)-textured Ru capping layer was used, the amorphous t-CoFeB was crystallized to bcc-CoFe(110). The CoFe(110)/Ru(002) texture relation can be minimized the lattice mismatch down to 5.6%. However, when the fine polycrystalline but almost amorphous TiAl or amorphous ZrAl were used, the amorphous t-CoFeB was crystallized to bcc-CoFe(002). When the amorphous capping materials were used, the evolution of the t-CoFeB texture was affected mainly by the MgO(001) texture. Consequently, the M ratios of the annealed MTJ capped with the ZrAl and TiAl (72.7 and 71.8%) are relatively higher than that of the MTJ with Ru capping layer (46.7%). In conclusions, the texture evolution of the amorphous t-CoFeB during the post deposition annealing could be controlled by the crystallinity of the adjacent capping layer and in turn, it affects the TMR ratio of MTJs.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.311-314
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• 2005

We investigated the composition dependence of the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) behavior and the stability of the magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with TiAlOx barrier and the microstructural evolution of TiAl alloy films. The TMR ratio increased up to $49\%$ at $5.33\;at\%$ Ti. In addition, a significant tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) value of $20\%$ was maintained after annealing at $450^{\circ}C$, and the breakdown voltage ($V_B$) of and 1.35 V were obtained in the MTJ with $5.33\;at\%$ Ti-alloyed AlOx barrier. These results were closely related to the enhanced quality of the barrier material microstructure in the pre-oxidation state. Ti alloying enhanced the barrier/electrode interface uniformity and reduced microstructural defects. These structural improvements enhanced not only the TMR effect but also the thermal and electrical stability of the MTJs.