• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.373-379
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• 2002

We investigated the evolution of magnetoresistance and magnetic property of tunneling magnetoresistive(TMR) device with microstructure and plasma oxidation time. TMR devices have potential applications for non volatile MRAM and high density HDD reading head. We prepared the tunnel magnetoresistance(TMR) devices of Ta($50{\AA}$)/NiFe($50{\AA}$)/IrMn($150{\AA}$)/CoFe($50{\AA}$)/Al($13{\AA}$)-O/CoFe($40{\AA}$)/FiFe($400{\AA}$)/Ta(($50{\AA}$) structure which have $100{\times}100\mu\textrm{m}^2$ junction area on $2.5{\times}2.5\textrm{cm}^2$ Si/$SiO_2$(($1000{\AA}$) substrates by an inductively coupled plasma(ICP) magnetron sputter. We fabricated the insulating layer using an ICP plasma oxidation method by with various oxidation time from 30 sec to 360 sec, and measured resistances and magnetoresistance(MR) ratios of TMR devices. We found that the oxidized sample for oxidation time of 80 sec showed the highest MR radio of 30.31 %, while the calculated value regarding inhomogeneous current effect indicated 25.18 %. We used transmission electron microscope(TEM) to investigate microstructural evolution of insulating layer. Comparing the cross-sectional TEM images at oxidation time of 150 sec and 360 sec, we found that the thickness and thickness variation of 360 sec-oxidized insulating layer became 30% and 40% larger than those of 150 sec-oxidized layer, repectively. Therefore, our results imply that increase of thickness variation with oxidation time may be one of the major treasons of the MR decrease.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제11권10호
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• pp.900-906
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• 2001

We prepared tunnel magnetoresistance(TMR) devices of Ta($50\AA$)/NiFe($50\AA$)/IrMn(150$\AA$)/CoFe($50\AA$)/Al ($13\AA$)-O/CoFe($40\AA$)/NiFe($400\AA$)/Ta(50$\AA$) structure which has 100$\times$100 $\mu\textrm{m}^2$ junction area on $2.5\Times2.5 cm^{2}$ $Si/SiO_2$ ($1000\AA$) substrates by a inductively coupled plasma(ICP) magnetron sputter. We fabricated the insulating layer using a ICP plasma oxidation method by varying oxidation time from 80 sec to 360 sec, and measured resistances and magnetoresistance(MR) ratios of TMR devices. We used a high resolution transmission electron microscope(HRTEM) to investigate microstructural evolution of insulating layer. The average resistance of devices increased from 16.38 $\Omega$ to 1018 $\Omega$ while MR ratio decreased from 30.31 %(25.18 %) to 15.01 %(14.97 %) as oxidation time increased from 80 sec to 360 sec. The values in brackets are calculated values considering geometry effect. By comparing cross-sectional TEM images of 220 sec and 360 sec-oxidation time, we found that insulating layer of 360 sec-oxidized was 30 % and 40% greater than that of 150 sec-oxidized in thickness and thickness variation, respectively. Therefore, we assumed that increase of thickness variation with oxidation time is major reason of MR decrease. The resistance of 80 sec-oxidized specimen was 160 k$\Omega$$\mu\textrm{m}^2$ which is appropriate for industrial needs of magnetic random access memory(MRAM) application.

• 한국자기학회지
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• 제11권5호
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• pp.189-195
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• 2001

ICP 마그네트론 스퍼터를 이용하여 2.5$\times$2.5 $\textrm{cm}^2$ 넓이의 열산화막이 형성된 실리콘 기판에 총 14개의 동일한 간격으로 NiFe(170 )/CoFe(48 )/Al(13 )-O/CoFe(500 )/Ta(50 ) 구조의 junction을 형성하여 자기저항비의 균일성을 알아보았다. 각 층은 ICP 마그네트론 스퍼터를 이용하여 만들고 특히 절연층은 플라즈마 산화법으로 제작하여 TMR 소자를 만들었다. 완성된 각 소자를 외부자기장을 변화시키면서 4단자 측정법으로 기준저항, 자기저항비, 자화반전자장을 측정하였다. 균일한 박막형성에 적합한 ICP스퍼터라도 같은 공정하에서 자기저항비의 표준편차가 2.72 정도의 분포가 있었으며, 위치에 따른 각 기준저항, 자기저항비, 자화반전자장의 유의차는 없었다. 또한 기준저항이 증가함에따라 자기저항비와 자화반전자장이 증가하는 경향이 있었으며, 이러한 현상은 균일하지 못한 절연막의 형성에 기인하는 것으로 판단되었다. 균일한 성막이 가능한 ICP 스퍼터로도 위치별로 절연막층 상태의 국부적 분산에 따라 표준편차가 기준저항의 경우 64.19, 자기저항비의 경우 2.72의 변화가 발생하여 실제적인 소자의 양산을 위해서는 산화막 형성공정의 개선이나 후열처리 등에 의한 균일화 공정이 필요할 것으로 생각되었다.