@article{892b6af104b34f458187cd1506dc4323,
title = "Fully epitaxial Fe/MgO/Fe(001) junctions with nonmagnetic metal layer insertion",
abstract = "Fully epitaxial Fe/Ag-wedge/MgO/Fe(001) magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) were prepared by using a combination of magnetron sputtering and molecular beam epitaxy, and their magneto-transport properties were investigated for the Ag thickness range of 0-9 monolayer (ML). The large tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) ratios of up to 160 at room temperature were obtained in the Fe/MgO/Fe region (Ag: 0 ML) after the optimization of the preparation conditions. The finite TMR ratio was observed until the Ag thickness reached 4 ML, although no significant oscillation due to quantum well states (QWS) was seen. This is the first demonstration of TMR in the fully epitaxial MTJs with nonmagnetic metal layer insertion which can potentially create spin-dependent QWS.",
author = "T. Niizeki and S. Mitani and H. Sukegawa and S. Kasai and K. Inomata",
note = "Funding Information: T.N. is grateful to the NIMS post-doc program for young scientists. A part of this study is supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (20360002) from MEXT. FIG. 1. (Color online) (a) Schematic illustration of the stacking structure of fully epitaxial Fe/Ag/MgO/Fe(001) MTJ. Here, “SP” and “EB” denote the use of magnetron sputtering and electron beam evaporation, respectively. (b) The RHEED patterns of the bottom Fe, the Ag insertion layer, the MgO barrier in MgO [100] azimuth. FIG. 2. (Color online) The MR ratios of fully epitaxial Fe/MgO/Fe(001) structure (without Ag layer) as the functions of (a) the substrate temperature during the deposition of the MgO buffer layer and (b) the postdeposition annealing temperature for the bottom Fe(001) electrode. FIG. 3. (Color online) The resistance area product (RA) and the MR ratios vs the thickness of the Ag layer of the fully epitaxial Fe/Ag/MgO/Fe(001) MTJs. ",
year = "2011",
month = apr,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1063/1.3555086",
language = "English",
volume = "109",
journal = "Journal of Applied Physics",
issn = "0021-8979",
publisher = "American Institute of Physics Publising LLC",
number = "7",
}