Magnetic element utilizing free layer engineering

A magnetic element comprising:

• a pinned layer;
• a barrier layer including crystalline MgO;
• a free layer including a first ferromagnetic layer, a second ferromagnetic layer, and an intermediate layer between the first ferromagnetic layer and the second ferromagnetic layer, the barrier layer residing between the pinned layer and the free layer, the first ferromagnetic layer residing between the barrier layer and the intermediate layer, the first ferromagnetic layer being ferromagnetically coupled with the second ferromagnetic layer, the first ferromagnetic layer including at least one of CoFeX and CoFeNiX with X being selected from the group of B, P, Si, Nb, Zr, Hf, Ta, Ti, and being greater than zero atomic percent and not more than thirty atomic percent, the second ferromagnetic layer including at least one of the CoFeX and NiFe, the intermediate layer being configured such that the first ferromagnetic layer has a first crystalline orientation and the second ferromagnetic layer has a second crystalline orientation different from the first crystalline orientation, the first crystalline orientation being (002), the intermediate layer including Ru and having a thickness of at least one Angstrom and not more than five Angstroms;
• an additional barrier layer;
• and
• an additional pinned layer, the additional barrier layer residing between the free layer and the additional pinned layer.