• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.36-41
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• 2002

Abstract The stoichiometric and double-ordered perovskite $Sr_2FeMoO_6$ (SFMO) polycrystalline ceramics were fabricated by sintering at above $900^{\circ}C$ in $H_2$(5%)/Ar reductive ambient. SMO polycrystals showed good ferromagnetic properties andmagnetrotesistqnce ratios of about 15 % at 8K and 3 % at room temperature. Amorphous SFMO thin films were deposited on $LaA1O_3$ and $SrTiO_3$ single crystal substrates using rf sputtering method with the SFMO polycrystalline ceramic target. Double-ordered perovskite polycrystalline SFMO thin films were fabricated by solid state crystallization by annealing the deposited amorphous films at above $680^{\circ}C$ in $H_2$(5%)/Ar reductive ambient. SFMO thin films exhibited ferromagnetic behavior. Their magnetroresistance ratios, however, were only 0.3~0.5% at 8K and disappeared with increasing the measuring temperature. This was attributed to the absence of magnetic spin tunneling between grains due to the porous structure and non-stoichiometric composition of the deposited films.

• 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.

• 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.9 no.6
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• pp.296-300
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• 1999

Cross-shape structures of spin tunneling junctions were fabricated using DC magnetron sputtering and metal masks. The film structures were $substrate/Ta/NiFe/FeMn/NiFe/CoFe/Al_2O_3/CoFe/NiFe$ and $substrate/Ta/NiFe/CoFe/ Al_2O_3/CoFe/NiFe/FeMn/NiFe$. Fabrication conditions of insulating layer ($Al_2O_3$) and thickness and sputtering power of each film layer were varied, and maximum magnetoresistance ratio of 24.3 % was obtained. Magnetic characteristic variations in the above mentioned two structures and two types of substrates (Corning glass 7059 and Si(111)) were compared. Annealing of the junctions was performed to find out magnetic characteristic variations expected from the device fabrication. Magneoresistance Ratio were observed to maintain as-deposited value up to 150 $^{\circ}C$ annealing and then to drop rapidly after 180 $^{\circ}C$ annealing.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.189-195
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• 2001

We prepared TMR junctions of NiFe(170 )/CoFe(48 )/Al(13 )-O/CoFe(500 )/Ta(50 ) structure on 2.5$\times$2.5 $\textrm{cm}^2$ area Si/SiO$_2$ substrates in order to investigate the uniformity of magnetoresistance(MR) value using a ICP magnetron sputter. Each layer was deposited by the ICP magnetron sputter and tunnel barrier was formed by the plasma oxidation method. We measured MR ratio and resistance of TMR devices with four-terminal probe system by applying external magnetic field. Although we used ICP sputter which is known as superior to make uniform films, the standard variation of MR ratio was 2.72. The variation was not dependent on the TMR devices location of a substrate. We found that MR ratio and spin-flip field (H's) increased as the resistance increased, which may be caused by local interface irregularity of the insulating layer. The variation of resistance value was 64.19 and MR ratio was 2.72, respectively. Our results imply that to improve the insulating layer fabrication process including annealing process to lessen interface modulation in order to mass produce the TMR devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.168-168
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• 2011

정보화 사회가 도래함으로 개인별 정보 이용량이 급격히 증가하였고 스마트폰과 같은 모바일 기기의 개발로 정보 이용량이 최고치를 갱신 중이다. 이러한 흐름 속에 사람들은 빠른 처리 속도와 고도의 저장 능력을 요구하게 되고 이에 따라 새로운 Random Access Memory에 대한 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있다. 현재 Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM)가 눈부신 발전과 성과를 이룩하고 있지만 전원 공급이 중단 될 경우 저장된 내용들이 지워진다는 단점을 가지고 있다. DRAM의 장점에 이러한 단점을 보완할 수 있는 차세대 반도체 소자로 주목 받고 있는 것이 Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM)이다. DRAM에서 Capacitor와 유사한 기능을 하는 MTJ stack은 tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) 현상을 나타내는 자기저항 박막을 이용하여 MRAM 소자에 집적된다. 본 연구에서는 MRAM의 자성 재료로 구성된 MTJ stack을 효과적으로 식각하고 우수한 식각 profile을 얻는 동시에 재증착의 문제를 해결하는데 목적을 둔다. 본 IrMn 자성 박막의 식각 연구는 유도결합 플라즈마 반응성 이온 식각 (Inductively Coupled Plasma Reactive Ion Etching: ICPRIE)법을 이용하여 진행되었다. 특히 본 연구에서는 종래의 $Cl_2$, $BCl_3$ 그리고 HBr과 같은 부식성 가스가 아닌 부식성이 없는 $CH_4$가스를 선택하여 그 농도를 변화시키면서 식각하였고 더 나아가 $O_2$를 첨가하면서 그 효과를 극대화하려고 시도하였다. IrMn 자성 박막의 식각 속도, TiN 하드 마스크에 대한 식각 선택도 그리고 profile 등이 조사되었고 최종적으로 X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)를 이용하여 식각 메카니즘을 이해하려고 하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.306-311
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• 1999

$La_{2/3}Sr_{1/3}MnO_3(LSMO)/YSZ/SiO_2/Si(100)$ polycrystalline thin films were fabricated be chelated sol-gel method The effect of YSZ buffer layer at low field (120 Oe) spin-polarized tunneling magnetotransport (TMR) properties of LSMO thin film was studied at room temperature. Single perovskite LSMO thin films was obtained. The maximum TMR ratio was increased from 0.2 to 0.42 % by the insertion of YSZ buffer. YSZ as diffusion barrier was attributed to the fine microstructure of LSMO thin films and the reduction of dead layer between LSMO and $SiO_2/Si(100)$ interfaces.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.147-156
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• 2012

Recently, there have been considerable interests in various thin film growth techniques with atomically controllable thickness. Among them, atomically controlled pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique is quite popular. We have developed advanced thin film growth technique using PLD and Reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED). Using the technique, the growth of oxide thin films with the precisely controllable thickness has been demonstrated. In addition, our technique can be applied to high quality thin film growth with minimal defect and bulk chemical composition. In this paper, our recent progresses as well as the current research trend on oxide thin films will be summarized.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.137-141
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• 2005

We confirmed that the improvement in properties of magnetic tunnel junctions prepared by radical oxidation after thermal treatment was mostly resulted from the redistribution of oxygen at the $AIOx/Co_{90}Fe_{10}$ interface. The as-deposited Al oxide barrier was oxygen-deficient but most of it re-oxidized into $Al_2O_3$, the thermodynamically stable stoichiometric phase, through thermal treatment. As a result, the effective barrier height was increased from 1.52 eV to 2.27 eV. On the other hand, the effective barrier width was decreased from 8.2 ${\AA}$ to 7.5 ${\AA}$. X-ray absorption spectra of Fe and Co clearly showed that the oxygen in the CoFe layer diffused back into the Al barrier and thereby enriched the barrier to close to a stoichiometirc $Al_2O_3$ phase. The oxygen bonded with Co and Fe diffused back by 6.8 ${\AA}$ and 4.5 ${\AA}$ after thermal treatment, respectively. Our results confirm that controlling the chemical structures of the interface is important to improve the properties of magnetic tunnel junctions.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.124-127
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• 2007

Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), which consisted of amorphous CoFeSiB layers, were investigated. The CoFeSiB layers were used to substitute for the traditionally used CoFe and/or NiFe layers with an emphasis given on understanding the effect of the amorphous free layer on the switching characteristics of the MTJs. CoFeSiB has a lower saturation magnetization ($M_s\;:\;560\;emu/cm^3$) and a higher anisotropy constant ($K_u\;:\;2800\;erg/cm^3$) than CoFe and NiFe, respectively. An exchange coupling energy ($J_{ex}$) of $-0.003\;erg/cm^2$ was observed by inserting a 1.0 nm Ru layer in between CoFeSiB layers. In the Si/$SiO_2$/Ta 45/Ru 9.5/IrMn 10/CoFe 7/$AlO_x$/CoFeSiB 7 or CoFeSiB (t)/Ru 1.0/CoFeSiB (7-t)/Ru 60 (in nm) MTJs structure, it was found that the size dependence of the switching field originated in the lower $J_{ex}$ using the experimental and simulation results. The CoFeSiB synthetic antiferromagnet structures were proved to be beneficial for the switching characteristics such as reducing the coercivity ($H_c$) and increasing the sensitivity in micrometer size, even in submicrometer sized elements.