Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ)

or
Tunnel Magnetoresistance (TMR)
or
Junction Magneto- Resistance (JMR)

T.Stobiecki
Katedra Elektroniki AGH

11 wykład 13.12.2004
 Spin Polarization, Density of States
Density of states 3d
Spin Polarization
Ferromagnetic metal (Fe) Normal metal (Cu)
E
E
EF

n  n n
N
n
EF

P  n n

n  n

D OS D OS
Material Polarizations M a jo rity S p in M in o rity S p in M a jor ity Sp in M ino rity S p i n

Ni 33 %
Co 42 %
n  ( EF )  n  ( EF ) n ( EF )  n ( EF )
Fe 45 %
Ni80 Fe20 48 %
Co84 Fe16 55 %
CoFeB 60%
 Tunneling in FM/I/FM junction

FM I (PI) FM II (PII)
E

EF E
E
N
n n eV EE
F F

N N
nn n n
Barrier

n I  n I nII  nII
PI   PII  
n I  n I D OS
M a jo rity S p in M ino rity S p in
nII  nII
D
DOS
OS
M
M aa jo
jori ty Sp
rity S p in
in M
M ino
in o rity
rity S
Spi n
p in

I M   nI nII  nI nII I I

I M   n n  n n     I I
I II I II

I M   I M  2 PI PII
TMR  
I M  1  PI PII

R  R
TMR 
R
 Type of MTJs
Standard junction Spin valve junction Double barrier junction
(SV- MTJ)

FM FM FM
I I I

FM FM FM

AF I

FM
B
 Application-Oriented Properties of S-V MTJ
SV-MTJ
Materials
• I (Al-O,MgO..) Treatment
• FM (Co, CoFe, NiFe) Preparation • Annealing
• AF (MnIr, PtMn, NiO) • Sputtering deposition • Field cooling
• Buffer (Ta,Cu, NiFe) • Oxidation

Magnetic
Electric • Interlayer coupling field HS

• Tunnel Magnetoresistance -TMR • Exchange bias field HEXB

• Resistance area product -RxA • Coercive field pinned HCP

and free HCF layer

• Switching field HSF

 Magnetic and Electric Parameters
FM I (Free)
I
Interlayer coupling
FM II (Pinned) HS
Exchange coupling
AF
HEXB
B

HCF
HS

R  R
TMR 
HEXB R
HCP

HSF

HSF switching fields

 Applications of SV-MTJ

M-RAM SENSORS

SV-MTJ

SPIN-LOGIC READ HEADS

 SV-MTJ Based MRAM
Memory Cell
Memory Matrix

IB
Bit lines
SV-MTJ
Reading current
IB IR

Writing “1” IW

Writing “0”

Writing - rotation of the free layer

Word lines Reading - detection of a resistance of a

IW junction

SV- MTJ as MRAM component must fulfill Critical switching fields Hx , Hy (S-W) asteroid
requirements 1
 
- Thermal stability

Hy/H(0)
- Magnetic stability
0
- Single domain like switching behaviour
- Reproducibility of RxA, TMR and Asteroids

Motorola: S.Tehrani et al. PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, VOL. 91, NO. 5, MAY 2003 -1
-1 0 1
- Non-volatility of FLASH with fast programming, no program endurance
limitation Features of M-RAM
- Density competitive with DRAM, with no refresh
- Speed competitive with SRAM
- Nondestructive read
- Resistance to ionization radiation
- Low power consumption (current pulses)

• Single 3.3 V power supply

• Commercial temperature range (0°C to 70°C)
• Symmetrical high-speed read and write with fast access time (15, 20 or 25 ns)
• Flexible data bus control — 8 bit or 16 bit access
• Equal address and chip-enable access times
• All inputs and outputs are transistor-transistor logic (TTL) compatible
• Full nonvolatile operation with 10 years minimum data retention

Motorola: S.Tehrani et al. PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, VOL. 91, NO. 5, MAY 2003
 SV-MTJ Based Spin Logic Gates
VOUT= IS(RMTJ3 + RMTJ3 – RMTJ1 – RMTJ2)
(+,  ) IA Logic Inputs
(+,  ) IB
NAND NOR

RM TJ3 MTJ 1 MTJ 2 MTJ 1 MTJ 2

RM TJ4

2 VOUT
RM TJ1
SV-MTJs IS
„1"

Logic Output
Programing Inputs RMTJ2 0
IS VO UT
Logic Output
„0"
-2 VOUT

(0,0) (0,1) (1,0) (1,1) (0,0) (0,1) (1,0) (1,1)

Logic Inputs MTJ 3, MTJ 4
SV- MTJ as spin logic gates must fulfill requirements
 
- Thermal stability
- Magnetic stability
- Centered minor loop
- Single domain like switching behaviour
- Reproducibility of R, TMR

Siemens & Univ. Bielefeld: R. Richter et al. J. Magn.Magn. Mat. 240 (2002) 127–129
 Features of Spin Logic Gates

- Programmable logic functions (reconfigurable computing)

- Non-volatile logic inputs and outputs
- Fast operation (up to 5 GHz)
- Low power consumption
- Compatibility to M-RAM
 SV-MTJ Based Read Heads

SV-MTJ as a read sensor for high density (> 100Gb/in2)

must fulfill requirements
 
- Resistance area product (RxA) < 6 -m2
- High TMR at low RxA
 A MTJsExperiments on SV -MTJs
B MTJs
Ta 5 nm 0
10
Au 25 nm
NiFe x nm 30
60
Ta 3 nm 100
CoFe 2.5 nm
Cu 30 nm
Junction
Al2O3 1.4 nm

CoFe 2.5 nm Junctions size

Ta 5 nm (180180) m2
MnIr 10 nm
NiFe 3 nm
Cu 5 nm
Al2O3 1.4 nm 3
Junction 6 NiFe 2 nm
CoFe t nm 10
Ta 5 nm
MnIr 12 nm 30
50
Cu 10 nm
Cu 25 nm
Ta 5 nm
Substrate Si (100)
SiO2
Substrate Si
(100)
10 mm

A structure prof. G. Reiss laboratory University Bielefeld

B structure prof. T. Takahasi laboratory, Tohoku University
 Effect of Annealing on TMR
As deposited Annealed
50
14 TMR = 13.4 % TMR = 48 %

12 40

10
30

TMR [%]
TMR [%]

6 20

4
10
2

0 0
-150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 -120 -80 -40 0 40 80 120
H [kA/m]
H [kA/m]
40
100 nm (10 sec)
35 100 nm (13 sec)
100 nm (16 sec)
H=80 kA/m 10 nm (10 sec)
30
10 nm (13 sec)
TMR [%]
25
10 nm (16 sec)

20

15

10
10 mm
5

annealing 1 hour in vacuum 10-6 hPa 0

100 150 200 250 300 350
o
Annealing temperature ( C)
 Interlayer and Exchange Coupling Fields
Exchange coupling fields Interlayer coupling fields
A MTJs B MTJs
3 1.2
3nm
1.0 10 nm
6nm
30 nm
2 10nm 0.8 60 nm
30nm
0.6
100 nm
50nm
1

Kerr rotation [min]

0.4
Kerr rotation [min]

0.2
0
0.0

-0.2
-1
-0.4

-0.6
-2
-0.8

-3 -1.0
-100 -75 -50 -25 0 25 50 -3000 -2500 -2000 -1500 -1000 -500 0 500 1000 1500
H [kA/m] H [A/m]
50
3nm 40
10 nm
6nm
40 100 nm
10nm
30nm 30
50nm
30
TMR [%]

TMR[%]

20

20
10

10
0

0
-3000 -2000 -1000 0 1000 2000 3000
-100 -75 -50 -25 0 25 50
H [Oe]
H [Oe]
Interlayer and Exchange Coupling
Fields
J EXB Js
H EXB  HS 
0 M P tP 0 M F tF
 Temperature Dependence of TMR
60 0
t=100nm (270 C) 50 0
t=10nm (300 C)
50 30k 30K
40 50K
50k
40 70K
70k
100K
100k 30

TMR [%]
150K
TMR[%]

30 150k
200k G P  G AP 200K

20 250k TMR  20 250K

300K
300k G AP 10
10

0
0
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20
H [Oe] H [Oe]

dG (T )  GP (T )  G AP (T )

P. Wiśniowski, M.Rams,... Temperature dependence of tunnel magnetoresistance of IrMn based MTJ, phys. stat. sol (2004)
 Total Conductance
G (1 , 2 , T )  GT (T )[1  P1 (T ) P2 (T ) cos(1   2 )]  GSI (T )

G AP (T )  GT (T )[1  P1 (T ) P2 (T )]  GSI (T ) GP (T )  GT (T )[1  P1 (T ) P2 (T )]  GSI (T )

G P  G AP
TMR 
G AP

dG(T )  GP (T )  G AP (T )  2GT (T ) P1 (T ) P2 (T )

GT (T )  G0CT / sin(CT ) P1 (T ) P2 (T )  P01 (1  b1T 3 / 2 ) P02 (1  b2T 3 / 2 )

Varies slightly with T Varies with T as magnetization does Bloch law

Negligible Dominant
 Polarization, Bloch Law
dG (T )  2GT (T ) P1 (T ) P2 (T ) M (T )  M 0 (1  BT 3 / 2 )

1. Set H= – 2000 Oe
2. Cooling H= 500 Oe
1. Set H= – 2000 Oe
3. Measured M (T)
2. Cooling H= –500 Oe
3. Measured M (T)

AP

100 nm
6 3 / 2
P01  48 [%] b1  1.0  10 [K ]
P02  45 [%] b2  9.2  10 6 [ K 3 / 2 ]
B  6.76  106 [ K 3 / 2 ]
B  6.99  10 6 [ K  3 / 2 ]
 Spin Independent Conductance
GSI  (GP  G AP ) / 2  GT

G SI  NT 

N  3.21  10 6 [ SK  ]
  1.66

Hopping conductance, high level of defects

Hopping conductance, low level of defects

N  2.0  10 6 [ SK  ]
  1.33
TIMARIS: Tool status

Tool #1 – process optimization on 200 mm wafers

since mid of March 03
Tool #2 – The Worlds 1st 300 mm MRAM System is
Ready for Process in August 03

Clean room

Multi (10) Target

Module

Oxidation /
Pre-clean Module

Transport Module
 Sputtering System

LL １ : wafer-in Metal
depo.

Plasma LL ２ :
Oxidation Bridge Reactive
sputter :
surface smooth
 Measurements
MOKE R-VSM
MOKE with Orthogonal Coils

H x co ils

H y coils

Sa mple