• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.60-60
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• 2011

Giant magnetoresistance (GMR), tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR), and magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) are currently active research areas in spintronics. The high magnetoresistance and the high spin polarization (P) of electrons in the ferromagnetic electrodes of tunnel junction or intermediate layers are required. Magnetite, Fe3O4, is predicted to possess as half-metallic nature, P ~ 100% spin polarization, and has a high Curie temperature (TC~850 K). Experiments demonstrated that the P~($80{\pm}5$)%, ~($60{\pm}5$)%, and ~40-55% for epitaxial (111), (110) and (001)-oriented Fe3O4 thin films, respectively. Epitaxial Fe3O4 films may enable us to investigate the effects of half metals on the spin transport without grain-boundary scattering.In addition, it has been reported that the Verwey transition (TV, a first order metal-insulator transition) of 120 K in bulk Fe3O4 is strongly affected by many parameters such as stoichiometry and stress, etc. Here we report that the growth modes, magnetism and transport properties of Fe3O4 thin films were strongly dependent on the oxygen pressure during film growth. The average roughness decreases from 1.021 to 0.263 nm for the oxygen pressure increase from $2.3{\times}10-7$ to $8.2{\times}10^{-6}$ Torr, respectively. The 120 K Verwey transition in Fe3O4 was disappeared for the sample grown under high oxygen pressure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.232-232
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• 2010

정보화 산업의 발달은 DRAM, flash memory 등을 포함한 기존의 반도체 메모리 소자를 대체할 수 있는 차세대 메모리 소자에 대한 개발을 요구하고 있다. 특히 magnetic random access memory (MRAM)는 SRAM과 대등한 고속화 그리고 DRAM 보다 높은 기록 밀도가 가능하고 낮은 동작 전압과 소비전력 때문에 대표적인 차세대 비휘발성 메모리로 주목받고 있다. 또한 MRAM소자의 고집적화를 위해서 우수한 프로파일을 갖고 재증착이 없는 나노미터 크기의 magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack의 건식 식각에 대한 연구가 선행되어야 한다. 본 연구에서는 고밀도 반응성 이온 식각법(Inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching; ICPRIE)을 이용하여 재증착이 없이 우수한 식각 profile을 갖는 CoFeB과 IrMn 박막을 형성하고자 하였다. Photoresist(PR) 및 Ti 박막의 두 가지 마스크를 이용하여 HBr/Ar, HBr/$O_2$/Ar 식각 가스들의 농도를 변화시키면서 CoFeB과 IrMn 박막의 식각 특성들이 조사되었다. 자성 박막과 동일한 조건에 대하여 hard mask로서 Ti가 식각되었다. 좋은 조건을 얻기 위해 HBr/Ar 식각 가스를 이용 식각할 때 pressure, bias voltage, rf power를 변화시켰고 식각조건에서 Ti 하드마스크에 대한 자성 박막들의 selectivity를 조사하고 식각 profile을 관찰하였다. 식각 속도를 구하기 위해 alpha step(Tencor P-1)이 사용되었고 또한 field emission scanning electron microscopy(FESEM)를 이용하여 식각 profile을 관찰함으로써 최적의 식각 가스와 식각 조건을 찾고자 하였다.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.72-79
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• 2002

Local M-H loops have been measured on the free layer of a tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) junction using the magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) system, with an optical beam size of about 2 $\mu$m diameter. Tunnel junctions were deposited using the DC magnetron sputtering method in a chamber with a base pressure of 3$\times$10$^{-9}$ Torr. The relatively irregular variations of coercive force H$_c$(∼17.5 Oe) and unidirectional anisotropy field H$_{ua}$(∼7.5 Oe) in the as-deposited sample are revealed. After $200{^{\circ}C}$ annealing, He decreases to 15 Oe but H$_{ua}$ increases to 20 Oe with smooth local variations. Two-dimensional plots of H$_c$ and H$_{ua}$ show the symmetric saddle shapes with their axes aligned with the pinned layer, irrespective of the annealing field angle. This is thought to be caused by geometric effects during deposition, together with a minor annealing effect. In addition, the variation of root mean square (RMS) surface roughness reveals it to be symmetric with respect to the center of the pinned-layer axis, with the roughness of 2.5 $\AA$ near the edge and 5.8 $\AA$ at the junction center. Comparison of surface roughness with the variation of H$_{ua}$ suggests that the H$_{ua}$ variation of the free layer is well described by dipole interactions related to surface roughness. As a whole, the reversal magnetization is not uniform over the entire junction area and the macroscopic properties are governed by the average sum of local distributions.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.99-104
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• 2004

We have studied to understand the barrier and interface qualities and structural changes through measuring temperature dependent spin-polarization as functions of plasma oxidation time and annealing time. Magnetic tunnel junctions consisting of SiO2$_2$/Ta 5/CoFe 17/IrMn 7.5/CoFe 5/Al 1.6-Ox/CoFe 5/Ta 5 (numbers in nm) were deposited and annealed when necessary. A 30 s,40 s oxidized sample showed the lowest spin-polarization values. It is presumed that tunneling electrons were depolarized and scattered by residual paramagnetic Al due to under-oxidation. On the contrary, a 60s, 70 s oxidized sample might have experienced over-oxidation, where partially oxidized magnetic dead layer was formed on top of the bottom CoFe electrode. The magnetic dead layer is known to increase the probability of spin-flip scattering. Therefore it showed a higher temperature dependence than that of the optimum sample (50 s oxidation). temperature dependence of 450 K annealed samples was improved when the as-deposited one compared. But the sample underwent 475 K and 500 K annealing exhibits inferior temperature dependence of spin-polarization, indicating that the over-annealed sample became microstucturally degraded.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.200-200
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• 2013

기존 메모리 반도체에 비교해 빠른 재생속도와 높은 집적도, 비휘발성 등의 특성을 가지는 MRAM (Magnetic Random Access Memory)은 DRAM, flash memory 등을 대체할 수 있는 차세대 기억 소자로서 CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB로 구성된 한 개의 MTJ (Magnetic Tunnel Junction)를 단위 메모리로 사용한다. 이 MTJ 물질들은 고밀도 플라즈마를 이용한 건식 식각공정시 Cl2, BCl3 등과 같은 chlorine 을 포함한 가스를 이용하여 왔으나 식각 후 sidewall에서 발생하는 부식과 식각 선택비 확보의 어려움 등으로 마스크 물질에 제약을 받고 소자 특성이 감소하게 되는 등의 문제가 있다. 따라서 이러한 식각 문제점을 해결하기 위한 대안으로 noncorrosive 가스인 CO/NH3, CH3OH, CH4 등을 이용한 MTJ 식각 연구가 진행되어 오고 있으며 이중 CO/NH3 혼합가스는 부식성이 없고 hard mask와의 높은 선택비를 가지는 기체로 CO gas에 NH3 gas를 첨가하게 되면 etch rate이 증가하는 특성을 보인다. 또한 rf pulse-biased power를 이용하여 이온의 입사를 시간에 따라 제어함으로써 pulse off time 때 etch gas와 MTJ 물질간의 chemical reaction을 향상시킬 수 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 CO/NH3 혼합가스를 이용하여 다양한 rf pulse-biased power 조건에서 MTJ 물질인 CoFeB, MgO와 hard mask 물질인 W을 식각 한 뒤 식각특성을 분석하였으며 MTJ surface의 chemical binding state, surface roughness 측정을 진행하였다. 식각 샘플의 측정은 Alpha step profiler, XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy), AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy)를 통해 진행되었다. Time-averaged pulse bias에서는 duty ratio가 감소할수록 etch rate의 큰 감소 없이 CoFeB/W, MgO/W 물질의 etch selectivity가 향상됨을 확인할 수 있었으며 pulse off time 구간에서의 chemical reaction 향상으로 인해 식각부산물의 재증착이 감소하고 CoFeB의 surface roughness가 감소하는 것을 확인하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.77-77
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• 2011

These days, a growing demand for memory device is filled up with the flash memory and the dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Although DRAM is a reasonable solution for current demand, the universal novel memory with high density, high speed and nonvolatility, needs to be developed. Among various new memories, the magnetic random access memory (MRAM) device is considered as one of good candidate memories because of excellent features including high density, high speed, low operating power and nonvolatility. The etching of MTJ stack which is composed of magnetic materials and insulator such as MgO is one of the vital process for MRAM. Recently, MgO has attracted great interest in the MTJ stack as tunneling barrier layer for its high tunneling magnetoresistance values. For the successful realization of high density MRAM, the etching process of MgO thin films should be investigated. Until now, there were some works devoted to the investigations on etch characteristics of MgO thin films. Initially, ion milling was applied to the etching of MgO thin films. However, ion milling has many disadvantages such as sidewall redeposition and etching damage. High density plasma etching containing the magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching and high density reactive ion etching have been employed for the improvement of etching process. In this work, inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICPRIE) system was adopted for the improvement of etching process using MgO thin films and etching gas mixes of $CH_4$/Ar and $CH_4$/$O_2$/Ar have been employed. The etch rates are measured by a surface profilometer and etch profiles are observed using field emission scanning emission microscopy (FESEM). The effects of gas concentration and etch parameters such as coil rf power, dc-bias voltage to substrate, and gas pressure on etch characteristics will be systematically explored.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.127-131
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• 2002

We fabricated MTJ devices that have doubly oxidized tunnel barrier using plasma oxidation method to from oxidized AlO$\sub$x/ tunnel barrier. Doubly oxidation I, which sputtered 10 ${\AA}$-bottom Al layer and oxidized it with oxidation time of 10 s. Subsequent sputtering of 13 ${\AA}$-Al was performed and the metallic layer was oxidized for 50, 80 and 120 s., respectively. Doubly oxidation II, which sputtered 10 ${\AA}$-bottom Al layer and oxidized it varying oxidation time for 30∼120 s. Subsequent sputtering of 13 ${\AA}$-Al was performed and the metallic layer was oxidized for 210 sec. Double oxidation process specimen showed MR ratio of above 27％ in all experiment range. Singly oxidation process. 13 ${\AA}$-Al layer and oxidized up to 210 s, showed less MR ratio and more narrow process window than those of doubly oxidation. Cross-sectional TEM images would that doubly oxidized barrowers were thinner and denser than singly oxidized ones. XPS characterization confirmed that doubly oxidation of Fe with bottom insulating layer. As a result, doubly oxidation could have superior MR ratio in process extent during long oxidation time because of preventing oxidation of bottom magnetic layer than singly oxidation.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.129-133
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• 2010

Two-layered ferromagnetic alloy films (NiFe, CoFe) with a Conetic (NiFeCuMo) intermediately soft magnetic layer of different thickness were investigated to correlate the coercivity values and magnetization process with the strength of saturation field of hard axis. Thickness dependence of the $H_{EC}$ (coercivity of easy axis), $H_{HS}$ (saturation field of hard axis.), and X (susceptibility) of NiFe and NiFeCuMo thin films for the glass/Ta(5 nm)/[CoFe or NiFe(5 nm-t/2)]/NiFeCuMo(t = 0, 4, 6, 8, 10 nm)/[CoFe or NiFe(5 nm-t/2)]/Ta(5 nm) films prepared by the ion beam deposition method was measured. The magnetic properties $H_{EC}$, $H_{HS}$, and X of two-layered ferromagnetic CoFe, NiFe films with a NiFeCuMo intermediately super-soft magnetic layer were strongly depended on the thickness of NiFeCuMo layer. The value of the coercivity and magnetic susceptibility of the NiFeCuMo film decreased by 25% and doubled relative to that of the NiFe film.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2004.06b
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• pp.419-422
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• 2004

A sensing scheme for current-mode magneto-resistance random access memory (MRAM) with a 1T1MTJ cell structure is proposed. Magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) resistance, which is HIGH or LOW, is converted to different cell currents during READ operation. The cell current is then amplified to be evaluated by the reference cell current. In this scheme, conventional bit line sense amplifiers are not required and the operation is less sensitive to voltage noise than that of voltage-mode circuit is. It has been confirmed with HSPICE simulations using a 0.35-${\mu}m$ 2-poly 4-metal CMOS technology.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
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• 2011.12a
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• pp.29-30
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• 2011

We have demonstrated the fabrication of sub 30 nm MTJ pillars with PMA characteristics. The multi-step IBE process performed at $45^{\circ}$ and $30^{\circ}$, using NER resulted in almost vertical side profiles. There deposition on the sidewalls of the NER prevented lateral etching of the resist hard mask allowing vertical MTJ side profile formation without any reduction in the lithographically defined resist lateral dimensions. For the 28nm STT-MTJ pillars, the measured TMR ratio was 13 % with resistance of 1 $k{\Omega}$, which was due to remaining redeposition layers less than 0.1 nm thick. With further optimization in multi-step IBE conditions, it will be possible to fabricate fully operating sub 30 nm perpendicular STT-MTJ structures for application to future non-volatile memories.