Enhanced interface perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Ta|CoFeB|MgO using nitrogen doped Ta underlayers

Jaivardhan Sinha; Masamitsu Hayashi; Andrew J. Kellock; Shunsuke Fukami; Michihiko Yamanouchi; Hideo Sato; Shoji Ikeda; Seiji Mitani; See Hun Yang; Stuart S.P. Parkin; Hideo Ohno

doi:10.1063/1.4811269

Enhanced interface perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Ta|CoFeB|MgO using nitrogen doped Ta underlayers

Jaivardhan Sinha, Masamitsu Hayashi, Andrew J. Kellock, Shunsuke Fukami, Michihiko Yamanouchi, Hideo Sato, Shoji Ikeda, Seiji Mitani, See Hun Yang, Stuart S.P. Parkin, Hideo Ohno

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

113 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We show that the magnetic characteristics of Ta|CoFeB|MgO magnetic heterostructures are strongly influenced by doping the Ta underlayer with nitrogen. In particular, the saturation magnetization drops upon doping the Ta underlayer, suggesting that the doped underlayer acts as a boron diffusion barrier. In addition, the thickness of the magnetic dead layer decreases with increasing nitrogen doping. Surprisingly, the interface magnetic anisotropy increases to ∼1.8 erg/cm² when an optimum amount of nitrogen is introduced into the Ta underlayer. These results show that nitrogen doped Ta serves as a good underlayer for spintronic applications including magnetic tunnel junctions and domain wall devices.

Original language	English
Article number	242405
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Volume	102
Issue number	24
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4811269
Publication status	Published - 2013 Jun 17

Access to Document

10.1063/1.4811269

Cite this

@article{d5e418a608824182bb4f6acabd8cc379,

title = "Enhanced interface perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Ta|CoFeB|MgO using nitrogen doped Ta underlayers",

abstract = "We show that the magnetic characteristics of Ta|CoFeB|MgO magnetic heterostructures are strongly influenced by doping the Ta underlayer with nitrogen. In particular, the saturation magnetization drops upon doping the Ta underlayer, suggesting that the doped underlayer acts as a boron diffusion barrier. In addition, the thickness of the magnetic dead layer decreases with increasing nitrogen doping. Surprisingly, the interface magnetic anisotropy increases to ∼1.8 erg/cm2 when an optimum amount of nitrogen is introduced into the Ta underlayer. These results show that nitrogen doped Ta serves as a good underlayer for spintronic applications including magnetic tunnel junctions and domain wall devices.",

author = "Jaivardhan Sinha and Masamitsu Hayashi and Kellock, {Andrew J.} and Shunsuke Fukami and Michihiko Yamanouchi and Hideo Sato and Shoji Ikeda and Seiji Mitani and Yang, {See Hun} and Parkin, {Stuart S.P.} and Hideo Ohno",

note = "Funding Information: We thank M. Kodzuka, T. Ohkubo, and K. Hono for their support in film characterization. This work was partly supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) through its “Funding program for world-leading innovative R & D on science and technology (FIRST program).” ",

year = "2013",

month = jun,

day = "17",

doi = "10.1063/1.4811269",

language = "English",

volume = "102",

journal = "Applied Physics Letters",

issn = "0003-6951",

publisher = "American Institute of Physics",

number = "24",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Enhanced interface perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Ta|CoFeB|MgO using nitrogen doped Ta underlayers

AU - Sinha, Jaivardhan

AU - Hayashi, Masamitsu

AU - Kellock, Andrew J.

AU - Fukami, Shunsuke

AU - Yamanouchi, Michihiko

AU - Sato, Hideo

AU - Ikeda, Shoji

AU - Mitani, Seiji

AU - Yang, See Hun

AU - Parkin, Stuart S.P.

AU - Ohno, Hideo

N1 - Funding Information: We thank M. Kodzuka, T. Ohkubo, and K. Hono for their support in film characterization. This work was partly supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) through its “Funding program for world-leading innovative R & D on science and technology (FIRST program).”

PY - 2013/6/17

Y1 - 2013/6/17

N2 - We show that the magnetic characteristics of Ta|CoFeB|MgO magnetic heterostructures are strongly influenced by doping the Ta underlayer with nitrogen. In particular, the saturation magnetization drops upon doping the Ta underlayer, suggesting that the doped underlayer acts as a boron diffusion barrier. In addition, the thickness of the magnetic dead layer decreases with increasing nitrogen doping. Surprisingly, the interface magnetic anisotropy increases to ∼1.8 erg/cm2 when an optimum amount of nitrogen is introduced into the Ta underlayer. These results show that nitrogen doped Ta serves as a good underlayer for spintronic applications including magnetic tunnel junctions and domain wall devices.

AB - We show that the magnetic characteristics of Ta|CoFeB|MgO magnetic heterostructures are strongly influenced by doping the Ta underlayer with nitrogen. In particular, the saturation magnetization drops upon doping the Ta underlayer, suggesting that the doped underlayer acts as a boron diffusion barrier. In addition, the thickness of the magnetic dead layer decreases with increasing nitrogen doping. Surprisingly, the interface magnetic anisotropy increases to ∼1.8 erg/cm2 when an optimum amount of nitrogen is introduced into the Ta underlayer. These results show that nitrogen doped Ta serves as a good underlayer for spintronic applications including magnetic tunnel junctions and domain wall devices.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84879833577&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84879833577&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1063/1.4811269

DO - 10.1063/1.4811269

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84879833577

SN - 0003-6951

VL - 102

JO - Applied Physics Letters

JF - Applied Physics Letters

IS - 24

M1 - 242405

ER -

Enhanced interface perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Ta|CoFeB|MgO using nitrogen doped Ta underlayers

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this