Structure and method for a mram device with an oxygen absorbing cap layer
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsChih-Ming Chen, Ya-Chen Kao, Ming-Te Liu, Chung-Yi Yu, Cheng-Yuan Tsai, Chun-Jung Lin
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Abstract
The present disclosure provides a MTJ stack for an MRAM device. The MTJ stack includes a pinned ferromagnetic layer over a pinning layer; a tunneling barrier layer over the pinned ferromagnetic layer; a free ferromagnetic layer over the tunneling barrier layer; a conductive oxide layer over the free ferromagnetic layer; and a oxygen-based cap layer over the conductive oxide layer.
Claims23
A MTJ stack for an MRAM device, the MTJ stack comprising:
- a pinned ferromagnetic layer over a pinning layer;
- a tunneling barrier layer over the pinned ferromagnetic layer;
- a free ferromagnetic layer over the tunneling barrier layer;
- a conductive oxide layer over the free ferromagnetic layer;
- and
- a oxygen-based cap layer over the conductive oxide layer.
A cap layer for MTJ stack for an MRAM device, the cap layer disposed over a free ferromagnetic layer of the MTJ stack and comprising:
- a diffusion barrier layer having a metal;
- a conductive oxide layer disposed over the diffusion barrier layer;
- and
- an oxygen-based cap layer over the conductive oxide layer.
A method of fabricating an MTJ stack for an MRAM device comprising:
- forming a pinned ferromagnetic layer disposed over a pinning layer;
- forming a tunneling barrier layer disposed over the pinned ferromagnetic layer;
- forming a free ferromagnetic layer disposed over the tunneling barrier layer;
- depositing a metal layer disposed over the free ferromagnetic layer;
- and
- forming an oxygen-based cap layer disposed over the metal layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.