CoFe alloy as middle layer for strong spin dependent quantum well resonant tunneling in MgO double barrier magnetic tunnel junctions

We report on spin dependent quantum well (QW) resonances in the CoFe alloy middle layer of CoFe/MgO/CoFe/MgO/CoFeB double barrier magnetic tunnel junctions. The dI/dV spectra reveal clear resonant peaks for the parallel magnetization configurations, which can be related to the existence of QW resona...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. B, Condensed matter and materials physics Condensed matter and materials physics, 2013, Vol.87 (2), p.024411
Main Authors: Liu, R S, Yang, See-Hun, Jiang, Xin, Zhang, X-G, Rettner, Charles, Gao, Li, Topuria, Teya, Rice, Philip M, Zhang, Weifeng, Canali, C M, Parkin, Stuart S P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Barriers
Condensed matter
Condensed Matter Physics
Electric potential
Kondenserade materians fysik
Magnesium oxide
Magnetic resonance
Mathematical analysis
Tunnel junctions
Voltage
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Summary:We report on spin dependent quantum well (QW) resonances in the CoFe alloy middle layer of CoFe/MgO/CoFe/MgO/CoFeB double barrier magnetic tunnel junctions. The dI/dV spectra reveal clear resonant peaks for the parallel magnetization configurations, which can be related to the existence of QW resonances obtained from first-principles calculations. We observe that the differential tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) exhibits an oscillatory behavior as a function of voltage with a sign change as well as a pronounced TMR enhancement at resonant voltages at room temperature. The observation of strong QW resonances indicates that the CoFe film possesses a long majority spin mean-free path, and the substitutional disorder does not cause a significant increase of scattering. Both points are confirmed by first-principles electronic structure calculation.
ISSN:1098-0121
1550-235X
1550-235X
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.87.024411