Fabricating a cap layer for a magnetic random access memory (MRAM) device
AssigneesInternational Business Machines Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsGuohan Hu, Kwangseok Kim, Younghyun Kim, Jung-Hyuk Lee, Jeong-Heon Park
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure comprising a magnetic fixed layer, a non-magnetic barrier layer and a magnetic free layer, and forming a metal oxide cap layer on the MTJ structure, wherein forming the metal oxide cap layer comprises depositing a metal layer on the magnetic free layer, performing an oxidation of the deposited metal layer to form an oxidized metal layer, and depositing a metal oxide layer on the oxidized metal layer.
Claims16
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising:
- forming a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure comprising a magnetic fixed layer, a non-magnetic barrier layer and a magnetic free layer;
- and
- forming a metal oxide cap layer on the MTJ structure;
- wherein forming the metal oxide cap layer comprises:
- depositing a single metal layer directly on the magnetic free layer;
- wherein the single metal layer comprises one of lithium, beryllium, and sodium;
- subsequent to depositing the single metal layer, performing an oxidation of the deposited single metal layer, wherein the entire single metal layer is converted into an oxidized metal layer comprising a single metal oxide;
- wherein performing the oxidation of the deposited single metal layer comprises flowing oxygen over the deposited single metal layer without using a plasma oxidation process;
- and
- depositing a metal oxide layer on the oxidized metal layer;
- wherein depositing the metal oxide layer on the oxidized metal layer comprises performing a radio frequency sputtering of the metal oxide layer;
- wherein the metal oxide layer comprises one of lithium oxide, beryllium oxide, and sodium oxide;
- wherein performing the oxidation of the deposited metal layer further comprises performing a surfactant layer treatment with a noble gas comprising a predetermined concentration of the oxygen which converts the entire single metal layer into the oxidized metal layer;
- and
- wherein the noble gas comprises at least one of xenon, krypton and a combination thereof.
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising:
- forming a metal oxide cap layer on a magnetic free layer of a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure comprising a magnetic fixed layer, a non-magnetic barrier layer on the magnetic fixed layer and the magnetic free layer on the non-magnetic barrier layer;
- wherein forming the metal oxide cap layer comprises:
- depositing a single metal layer directly on the magnetic free layer;
- wherein the single metal layer comprises one of lithium, beryllium, and sodium;
- subsequent to depositing the single metal layer, performing an oxidation of the deposited single metal layer, wherein the entire single metal layer is converted into an oxidized metal layer comprising a single metal oxide;
- wherein performing the oxidation of the deposited single metal layer comprises flowing oxygen over the deposited single metal layer without using a plasma oxidation process;
- and
- depositing a metal oxide layer on the oxidized metal layer;
- wherein depositing the metal oxide layer on the oxidized metal layer comprises performing a radio frequency sputtering of the metal oxide layer;
- wherein the metal oxide layer comprises one of lithium oxide, beryllium oxide, and sodium oxide;
- and
- wherein performing the oxidation of the deposited metal layer further comprises performing a surfactant layer treatment with a noble gas comprising a predetermined concentration of the oxygen which converts the entire single metal layer into the oxidized metal layer;
- and
- wherein the noble gas comprises at least one of xenon, krypton and a combination thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.