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US 2020/0052194 A1Published application
Magnetoresistance effect element
AssigneeTDK Corporation
InventorsTomoyuki SASAKI, Tatsuo SHIBATA, Katsuyuki NAKADA, Yoshitomo TANAKA
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Abstract
A magnetoresistance effect element has a first ferromagnetic metal layer, a second ferromagnetic metal layer, and a tunnel barrier layer that is sandwiched between the first and second ferromagnetic metal layers, and the tunnel barrier layer has a spinel structure in which cations are disordered, and contains a divalent cation of a non-magnetic element, a trivalent cation of a non-magnetic element, oxygen, and one of nitrogen and fluorine.
Claims25
A magnetoresistance effect element comprising:
- a first ferromagnetic metal layer;
- a second ferromagnetic metal layer;
- and
- a tunnel barrier layer that is sandwiched between the first and second ferromagnetic metal layers,
- wherein the tunnel barrier layer has a spinel structure of cations, and contains a divalent cation of a non-magnetic element, a trivalent cation of a non-magnetic element, oxygen, and one of nitrogen and fluorine, and
- the tunnel barrier layer has a lattice-matched portion that is lattice-matched with both of the first ferromagnetic metal layer and the second ferromagnetic metal layer, and a lattice-mismatched portion that is not lattice-matched with at least one of the first ferromagnetic metal layer and the second ferromagnetic metal layer.
3 more elements
A method of manufacturing a tunnel barrier layer, the method comprising the steps of:
- forming an under layer on a substrate provided with a thermal silicon oxide film using a magnetron sputtering method;
- forming a first ferromagnetic metal layer on the under layer;
- forming a tunnel barrier layer on the first ferromagnetic layer;
- and
- forming a second ferromagnetic metal layer on the tunnel barrier layer,
- wherein, the step of forming the tunnel barrier layer comprises the steps of:
- forming a film of Mg0.9Al2 by sputtering with a target having an alloy composition of Mg0.9Al2 to obtain an intermediate laminate;
- performing plasma nitridation on the intermediate laminate in a presence of Ar and nitrogen;
- performing natural oxidation on the intermediate laminate in a presence of Ar, oxygen and nitrogen in ultrahigh vacuum condition in a state in which the substrate is heated after plasma nitridation;
- and
- performing natural oxidation and inductively coupled plasma oxidation in a presence of Ar and oxygen, and
- wherein the tunnel barrier layer has a spinel structure of cations, contains a divalent cation of a non-magnetic element, a trivalent cation of a non-magnetic element, oxygen, and one of nitrogen and fluorine, and has a lattice-matched portion that is lattice-matched with both of the first ferromagnetic metal layer and the second ferromagnetic metal layer, and a lattice-mismatched portion that is not lattice-matched with at least one of the first ferromagnetic metal layer and the second ferromagnetic metal layer.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.