Interfacial nitridation for growth of perpendicularly magnetized Heusler films

A magnetoresistive random-access memory cell, comprising:

• a substrate;
• a non-magnetic tantalum nitride layer, outward of the substrate, and having a non-magnetic tantalum nitride layer thickness ranging from a sub-monolayer to a maximum≤10 Angstroms+/−10%;
• a templating layer, outward of the non-magnetic tantalum nitride layer, comprising a binary alloy having an alternating layer lattice structure;
• a Heusler layer located outward of the templating layer, the Heusler layer comprising a Heusler compound and exhibiting perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA);
• a tunnel barrier outward of the Heusler layer;
• and
• a magnetic layer outward of the tunnel barrier.

A magnetoresistive random-access memory array, comprising:

• a plurality of bit lines and a plurality of complementary bit lines forming a plurality of bit line-complementary bit line pairs;
• a plurality of word lines intersecting the plurality of bit line pairs at a plurality of cell locations;
• and
• a plurality of magnetoresistive random-access memory cells located at each of the plurality of cell locations, each of the magnetoresistive random-access memory cells being electrically connected to a corresponding bit line and selectively interconnected to a corresponding one of the complementary bit lines under control of a corresponding one of the word lines, each of the plurality of magnetoresistive random-access memory cells comprising:
• a substrate;
• a sub-monolayer non-magnetic nitride layer, outward of the substrate, and having a sub-monolayer non-magnetic nitride layer thickness less than 10 Angstroms;
• a templating layer, outward of the sub-monolayer non-magnetic nitride layer, comprising a binary alloy having an alternating layer lattice structure;
• a Heusler layer located outward of the templating layer, the Heusler layer comprising a Heusler compound and exhibiting perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA);
• a tunnel barrier outward of the Heusler layer;
• and
• a magnetic layer outward of the tunnel barrier.

A method of forming a magnetoresistive random-access memory cell, comprising:

• providing a substrate;
• forming a sub-monolayer non-magnetic nitride layer, outward of the substrate, and having a sub-monolayer non-magnetic nitride layer thickness less than 10 Angstroms;
• providing a templating layer, outward of the sub-monolayer non-magnetic nitride layer, and comprising a binary alloy having an alternating layer lattice structure;
• epitaxially growing a Heusler layer on the templating layer, the Heusler layer comprising a Heusler material;
• forming a tunnel barrier outward of the Heusler layer;
• and
• forming a magnetic layer outward of the tunnel barrier.

A hardware description language (HDL) design structure encoded on a machine-readable data storage medium, the HDL design structure comprising elements that when processed in a computer-aided design system generates a machine-executable representation of a magnetoresistive random-access memory cell, wherein the (HDL design structure) comprises:

• a substrate;
• a sub-monolayer non-magnetic nitride layer, outward of the substrate, and having a sub-monolayer non-magnetic nitride layer thickness less than 10 Angstroms;
• a templating layer, outward of the sub-monolayer non-magnetic nitride layer, comprising a binary alloy having an alternating layer lattice structure;
• a Heusler layer located outward of the templating layer, the Heusler layer comprising a Heusler compound and exhibiting perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA);
• a tunnel barrier outward of the Heusler layer;
• and
• a magnetic layer outward of the tunnel barrier.