Impact of interface crystallization on inelastic tunneling in Al ∕ Al O x ∕ Co Fe B

We report the change in inelastic electron tunneling spectra (IETS) for Al ∕ Al O x ∕ Co Fe B ∕ Al junctions when the structure of CoFeB at its interface with Al O x is intentionally changed from quasiamorphous to highly textured fcc. While for the quasiamorphous interface there are signs of the siz...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters 2007-11, Vol.91 (22), p.222501-222501-3
Main Authors: Paluskar, P. V., Bloom, F. L., Kohlhepp, J. T., Swagten, H. J. M., Koopmans, B., Snoeck, E.
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Summary:We report the change in inelastic electron tunneling spectra (IETS) for Al ∕ Al O x ∕ Co Fe B ∕ Al junctions when the structure of CoFeB at its interface with Al O x is intentionally changed from quasiamorphous to highly textured fcc. While for the quasiamorphous interface there are signs of the size quantization of magnons, the spectra for the fcc interface show distinct excitations at bias voltages associated with known surface magnon modes in fcc Co. These results demonstrate that IETS can be used as a tool to probe distinct structural changes of the magnetic electrode in tunnel junctions.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.2817229