• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.98-102
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• 2003

Microstructure and magnetic transport phenomina in rf sputtered AIN/CO type ten- layered discontinuous films of nanoscaled [AIN(3 nm)/Co(t nm)]…$_10$ with t$_Co$=1.0∼2.0 nm have been investigated. The microstructure and tunneling magnetic resistance of the samples are strongly dependent on the thickness of Co layer, Negative tunneling magneto-resistance due to the spin-dependent transport has been observed along the current-in-plane configuration in the samples having the Co layers below 1.6 nm thick. When the thickness of Co layer was less than 1.2 nm, randomly oriented granular Co particles were completely isolated and embedded in amorphous AIN matrix, and the films showed the superparamagnetic behavior with a high MR value of ${\Delta}p/p_0$=1.8%. As t$_Co$ increases, a transition from the regime of co-existence of superparamagnetic and ferromagnetic behaviors to ferromagnetic behavior was observed. funneling barrier called “decay length far tunneling” fur the films haying the thickness of Co layer from 1.4 to 1.6 nm was measured to be ranged from 0.004 to 0.021 ${\AA}$$^{-1}$.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.15 no.4
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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.

• 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.26 no.6
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• pp.201-205
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• 2016

In this report, we measured the impedance spectrum in TMR device, and the relaxation behavior of the real and imaginary impedance spectrum was analyzed by using the equilibrant circuit of tunneling capacitance ($C_T$) and tunneling resistance ($R_T$). The relaxation frequency was increased with AC voltage in both the parallel and antiparallel alignment of two magnetic layers. The $R_T$ with AC voltage showed the typical bias voltage dependence. However, the $C_T$ showed large value than the expected geometrical capacitance. The huge increase of $C_T$ was affecting as a limiting factor for the high speed operation of TMR devices. Thus, the supercapacitance of $C_T$ should be considered to design the high speed TMR devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.387-387
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• 2013

Currently, the flash memory and the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) have been used in a variety of applications. However, the downsizing of devices and the increasing density of recording medias are now in progress. So there are many demands for development of new semiconductor memory for next generation. Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) is one of the prospective semiconductor memories with excellent features including non-volatility, fast access time, unlimited read/write endurance, low operating voltage, and high storage density. MRAM is composed of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS). The MTJ stack consists of various magnetic materials, metals, and a tunneling barrier layer. Recently, MgO thin films have attracted a great attention as the prominent candidates for a tunneling barrier layer in the MTJ stack instead of the conventional Al2O3 films, because it has low Gibbs energy, low dielectric constant and high tunneling magnetoresistance value. For the successful etching of high density MRAM, the etching characteristics of MgO thin films as a tunneling barrier layer should be developed. In this study, the etch characteristics of MgO thin films have been investigated in various gas mixes using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICPRIE). The Cl2/Ar, CH3OH/Ar, and CH4/Ar gas mix were employed to find an optimized etching gas for MgO thin film etching. TiN thin films were employed as a hard mask to increase the etch selectivity. The etch rates were obtained using surface profilometer and etch profiles were observed by using the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM).

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.291-295
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• 1999

$NiFe/Co/Al_2O_3/Co/IrMn$ tunneling junctions were grown on (100)Si wafer and their spin-valve tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) was studied. The tunneling junctions were grown by using a 5-gun RF/DC magnetron sputter. $Al_2O_3$ barrier layer was formed by exposing Al layer to oxygen atmosphere at 6$0^{\circ}C$ for 72 hours. Strong exchange coupling interaction is observed between the ferromagnetic Co and the antiferromagnetic IrMn of Co/IrMn bilayer when IrMn is 100$\AA$ thick. $NiFe(183\;{\AA})/Co(17\;{\AA})/Al_2O_3(16\;{\AA})/Co(100\;{\AA})/IrMn(100\;{\AA})$ tunneling junction shows best TMR ratio of about 10% in the applied magnetic field range of $\pm$20 Oe. The TMR ratio is improved about 23% and electrical resistance is decreased about 34% when annealed at 200 $^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour in magnetic field of 330 Oe, parallel to the bottom electrode. With increasing the active area of junction the TMR ratio increases while electrical resistance decreases.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2005

We report the oscillation of the Josephson vortex-flow resistance in the rectangular stacks of $Bi_{2}Sr_{2}CaCu_{2}O_{8+x}$(Bi-2212) intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJs). Apiece of Bi-2212 single crystal containing a few tens of IJJs was sandwiched between two gold electrodes and fabricated into a rectangular shape with the typical lateral size of about $1.5{\times}10\;{\mu}m^2$, using e-beam lithography and focused ion-beam etching techniques. In a tesla-range magnetic field applied in parallel with the junction planes, the oscillation of the Josephson vortex flow resistance was observed at temperatures near 60 K. The oscillation results from the interplay between the triangular Josephson vortex lattice and the potential barrier at the boundary of a single crystal. The oscillatory magnetoresistance for different bias currents, external magnetic fields, and the tilt-angles provides useful information on the dynamics of the coupled Josephson-vortex lattice system.

• 한국초전도학회:학술대회논문집
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• v.9
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• pp.185-188
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• 1999

Biepitaxial Y$_1Ba_2Cu_3O_{7-x}$ (YBCO) and La$_{0.2}Sr_{0.8}MnO_3$ (LSMO) thin films have been prepared on SrTiO$_3$ buffer layer and MgO seed layer grown on Al$_2O_3$(11${\bar{2}}$0)substrates by dc-sputtering with hollow cylindrical targets, respectively. We charaterized Josephson properties and significantly large magnetoresistance in YBCO and LSMO films with 45$^{\circ}$ grain boundary junction, respectively. The observed working voltage (I$_cR_n$) at 77 K in grain boundary junction was below 10${\mu}$V, which is typical I$_cR_n$ value of single biepitaxial Josephson junction. The field magnetoresistance ratio (MR) of LSMO grain boundary juncoon at 77K was enhanced to 13%, which it was significant MR value with high magnetic field sensitivity at a low field of 250 Oe. These results indicate that inserting the insulating layer instead of the grain boundary layer with metallic phase can be possible to apply a new SIS Josephson junction and a novel magnetic device using spin-polarized tunneling junction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.370.1-370.1
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• 2014

Giant magnetoresistance (GMR), tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR), and magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) are currently active areas of research. Magnetite, Fe3O4, is predicted to possess as half-metallic nature, ~100% spin polarization (P), and has a high Curie temperature (TC~850 K). On the other hand, Spinel ferrite CoFe2O4 has been widely studies for various applications such as magnetorestrictive sensors, microwave devices, biomolecular drug delivery, and electronic devices, due to its large magnetocrystalline anisotropy, chemical stability, and unique nonlinear spin-wave properties. Here we have investigated the magneto-transport properties of epitaxial CoxFe3-xO4 thin films. The epitaxial CoxFe3-xO4 (x=0; 0.4; 0.6; 1) thin films were successfully grown on MgO (100) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The quality of the films during growth was monitored by reflection high electron energy diffraction (RHEED). From temperature dependent resistivity measurement, we observed that the Werwey transition (1st order metal-insulator transition) temperature increased with increasing x and the resistivity of film also increased with the increasing x up to $1.6{\Omega}-cm$ for x=1. The magnetoresistance (MR) was measured with magnetic field applied perpendicular to film. A negative transverse MR was disappeared with x=0.6 and 1. Anomalous Hall data will be discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.245-250
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• 1999

The effect of substrate and oxidization time on $substrate /Py/Al_2O_3/Co\;(Py=Ni_{81}Fe_{19})$ tunnel junction was studied. Samples were prepared without breaking vacuum by changing shadow masks in-situ. The resistance of tunnel junctions increased, but measured MR decreased with oxidization time. Negative MR observed for samples of tunnel resistivity lower than 0.17 M$\Omega$ $({\mu}m)^2$. MR resistivity decreased with the change of substrates in the order of thermally oxidized Si(111), Si(100), Coring Glass 2948, Corning Glass 7059. Sign change and the variation of MR was explained with non uniform current effect.