• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.14 no.8
• /
• pp.688-693
• /
• 2001

A series of Fe/CeO$_2$/Fe$_{75}$Co$_{25}$ tunnel junctions (Magnetic Tunnel Junction, MTJ) having CeO$_2$ barrier layers from 30 to 90$\AA$ in thickness were prepared by ion beam sputtering (IBS) method. In order to compare the properties of MTJs, Fe/Al oxide/Fe-Co tunnel junctions were also prepared. Some junctions with a CeO$_2$ barrier layer showed the ferromagnetic tunneling effect and the highest MR ratio at room temperature was 5%. The electric resistance of junctions with a CeO$_2$ barrier layer was higher that that of junctions with an Al oxide barrier. On the other hand, The interface analysis of the Fe/CeO$_2$ bilayer was conducted by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It was found that CeO$_2$ was decomposed to Ce and $O_2$ during sputtering, and Fe was oxidized with these decomposed $O_2$ molecules. The reduction of both electric resistance and MR ratio may be associated with the decomposed Ce in the barrier layer.r.r.

• Journal of Magnetics
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.169-172
• /
• 2011

This study reports an alternative method for measuring the magnetoresistance of unpatterned magnetic tunnel junctions similar to the current-in-plane tunneling (CIPT) method. Instead of using microprobes, a series of point contacts with different spacings are coated on the top surface of the junctions and R-H loops at various spacings are then measured by the usual four-point probe method. The values of magnetoresistance and resistance-area products can be obtained by fitting the measured data to the CIPT theoretical model. The test results of two types of junctions were highly similar to those obtained from standard CIPT tools. The proposed method may help to accelerate the process for evaluating the quality of magnetic tunnel junctions when commercial CIPT tools are not accessible.

• Journal of Magnetics
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.170-181
• /
• 2006

Spin dependent tunneling has enormously activated the field of magnetism in general, and in particular spin transport studies, in the past ten years. Thousands of articles related to the subject have appeared with many fundamental results. Importantly, there is great interest in their potential for application. There was another surge of activity in this field since the past five years - created by the theoretical prediction of a large tunnel magnetoresistance that arises due to band symmetry matched coherent tunneling in epitaxial magnetic tunnel junctions with (001) MgO barrier and experimentally well demonstrated. This further development in the field has boosted the excitement in both fundamental science as well as the possibility of application in such as magnetic random access memory, ultra sensitive read heads, biosensors and spin torque diodes. This review is a brief coverage of the field highlighting the literature that deals with magnetic tunnel junctions having epitaxial MgO tunnel barriers.

• Progress in Superconductivity
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.70-73
• /
• 2001

We report the spin injection and transport properties of three terminal devices of Co/Au/$YBa_2$$Cu_3$$O_{y}$(F/N/S) tunnel junctions by injection of spin-polarized quaiparticles using a cobalt ferromagnetic injector. The observed current gain depends on the thickness of Au interlayer and is directly related to the nonequilibrium magnetization due to spin relaxation effects. The tunnel characteristic of a F/N/S tunnel junctions exhibited a zero bias conductance peak (ZBCP). The suppression of the ZBCP was observed due to the suppression of Andreev reflection at the interface, which is due to the spin scattering processes at the interface between a ferromagnetic and a d-wave superconductor.r.

• Progress in Superconductivity
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.43-46
• /
• 2000

We report on the tunneling spectroscopy of tunnel junctions using d-wave superconductor in relation to Andreev reflection. The zero bias conductance peak (ZBCP) which has maximum on [110] direction of ab-plane is observed on metal $Au/YBa_2Cu_3O_y$ tunnel junctions while it is suppressed on the ferromagnetic $Co/Au/YBa_2Cu_3O_y$ tunnel junctions. The effects of Andreev reflection on the differential conductance of each junction are dependent on the tunnel direction. For the $Co/Au/YBa_2Cu_3O_y$ junction, the suppression of Andreev reflection takes place by spin-polarized quasiparticles tunneling from a ferromagnetic material to a d-wave superconductor. By comparing these experimental results with recent theoretical works on Andreev reflection, the existence of Andreev bound state due to the d-wave symmetry of the pair potential is verified in high-$T_c$ superconductor.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
• /
• v.30A no.10
• /
• pp.12-19
• /
• 1993

Because of their high sensitivity and moderate bandwidth, superconducting receivers with SIS (Superconductor Insulator Superconductor) tunnel junction mixer are now widely used for millimeter wave radio astronomy. In this paper we have introduced how to determine the parameters of SIS tunnel junction which have to be optimized to achieve a good mixer performance. From these results of optimized junction parameters determined by this methods, SIS junctions which consist of a series array of four Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb junctions with each area 3.4${\mu}m^{2}$ have been fabricated by SNEP (Selective Niobium Etching Process) and RIE (Reactive Ion Eching). Also we have tested their DC current-voltage characteristics. These SIS junctions will be used as a mixer for 100GHz band cosmic waves receiver.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.121-126
• /
• 2011

Spin dynamics of magnetic tunnel junctions with free and fixed reference layers is investigated by ferromagnetic resonance micromagnetic simulations. First, in magnetic tunnel junctions with an exchange biased synthetic ferrimagnetic reference layer, a magnetization direction of each layer and the tunneling magnetoresistance are calculated for a DC magnetic field. To investigate the spin exciting modes in magnetic tunnel junctions, we simulate the ferromagnetic resonance frequency spectra with small RF magnetic fields. Exciting modes of the tunneling magnetoresistance calculated by an included angle between free and reference layers is interpreted from those of each layer. Spin exciting modes are different according to a signs of the DC magnetic field. In a negative magnetic field, FMR frequency spectra of free and reference layers are well elucidated by the modified Kittel's equation. However, in a positive magnetic field, there is no simple analytic solution related to FMR frequency spectra due to the coupled modes. Since ferromagnetic layers in magnetic tunnel junctions are interactive each other, careful considerations of the reference and fixed layer as well as the free layer are required for understanding on the spin dynamics of magnetic tunnel junctions with an exchange biased synthetic ferrimagnetic reference layer.

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

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
• /
• 1999.04a
• /
• pp.136-137
• /
• 1999

• ETRI Journal
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.669-672
• /
• 2004

To improve the operation error caused by the thermal fluctuation of electrons, we propose a novel single-electron pass-transistor logic circuit employing a multiple-tunnel junction (MTJ) scheme and modulate a parameters of an MTJ single-electron tunneling device (SETD) such as the number of tunnel junctions, tunnel resistance, and voltage gain. The operation of a 3-MTJ inverter circuit is simulated at 15 K with parameters $C_g=C_T=C_{clk}=1\;aF,\;R_T=5\;M{\Omega},\;V_{clk}=40\;mV$, and $V_{in}=20\;mV$. Using the SETD/MOSFET hybrid circuit, the charge state output of the proposed MTJ-SETD logic is successfully translated to the voltage state logic.