Magnetic tunnel junctions suitable for high temperature thermal processing

A film stack utilized to form a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure on a substrate, comprising:

• a buffer layer, wherein the buffer layer comprises a CoFeB containing layer;
• a seed layer disposed over the buffer layer;
• a first pinning layer disposed over the seed layer;
• a synthetic ferrimagnet (SyF) coupling layer disposed over the first pinning layer, wherein the SyF coupling layer comprises an Ir containing layer;
• a second pinning layer disposed over the SyF coupling layer;
• a structure blocking layer disposed over the second pinning layer;
• a magnetic reference layer disposed over the structure blocking layer;
• a tunnel barrier layer disposed over the magnetic reference layer;
• a magnetic storage layer disposed over the tunnel barrier layer;
• a capping layer disposed over the magnetic storage layer, wherein the capping layer comprises one or more layers;
• and
• a hard mask disposed over the capping layer, wherein at least one of the capping layer, the buffer layer, and the SyF coupling layer is not fabricated from Ru.

A film stack utilized to form a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure on a substrate, comprising:

• a buffer layer, wherein the buffer layer comprises a CoFeB containing layer, wherein a wt % of boron is greater than about 20%;
• a seed layer disposed over the buffer layer;
• a first pinning layer disposed over the seed layer;
• a synthetic ferrimagnet (SyF) coupling layer disposed over the first pinning layer, wherein the SyF coupling layer comprises an Ir containing layer;
• a second pinning layer disposed over the SyF coupling layer;
• a structure blocking layer disposed over the second pinning layer;
• a magnetic reference layer disposed over the structure blocking layer;
• a tunnel barrier layer disposed over the magnetic reference layer;
• a magnetic storage layer disposed over the tunnel barrier layer;
• a capping layer disposed over the magnetic storage layer, wherein the capping layer comprises one or more layers, and a top layer of the capping layer is an Ir containing layer;
• and
• a hard mask disposed over the capping layer, wherein at least one of the capping layer, the buffer layer, and the SyF coupling layer is not fabricated from Ru.