Study on the effect of re-deposition induced by ion beam etching on MTJ performances

16Citations
Citations of this article
20Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

Magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) as a key spintronics device can be used for the high-sensitivity magnetic field sensor and high-density non-volatile magnetic random access memory (MRAM). To obtain a high tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR), precise control of the etching process for MTJs is an essential step. In order to investigate the effect of the etching angle on the performance of MTJ devices, a series of MTJ pillars are fabricated by etching with the incidence angle of 10°, 20° and 30°. The prepared samples are characterized by the optical microscopy and SEM, and the R-H curves are also measured and then statistically analyzed. The results reveal that the performance of the MTJ is strongly affected by the IBE process, displaying the uniformity of the pillars edge and MTJ performance will improve as well with the increase of the etching angle. Then, a simplified model based on the re-deposition effect of the etching process is established to explain the experimental phenomena. Furthermore, a newly defined material parameter is introduced in this model and obtained with fitting the experimental results. This proves a valuable way to evaluate the quality of the MTJ stack film without the interference of the device fabrication process.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Ji, M., Pan, L., Hu, Y., Pan, M., Yang, L., Peng, J., … Li, P. (2019). Study on the effect of re-deposition induced by ion beam etching on MTJ performances. AIP Advances, 9(8). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5117312

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free