Magnetic tunnel junction device with optimized ferromagnetic layer

Abstract

A magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device is usable as a magnetic field sensor in magnetic disk drives or as a memory cell in a magnetic random access (MRAM) array. The MTJ device has a "pinned" ferromagnetic layer whose magnetization is oriented in the plane of the layer but is fixed so as not to be able to rotate in the presence of an applied magnetic field in the range of interest, a "free" ferromagnetic layer whose magnetization is able to be rotated in the plane of the layer relative to the fixed magnetization of the pinned ferromagnetic layer, and an insulating tunnel barrier layer located between and in contact with both ferromagnetic layers. The pinned ferromagnetic layer is pinned by interfacial exchange coupling with an adjacent antiferromagnetic layer. A high spin polarization ferromagnetic layer (Ni.sub.40 --Fe.sub.60) is placed near the tunnel barrier layer in both the pinned and free layers to enhance the magnetoresistive effect. The undesirable positive magnetostriction coefficient of the Ni.sub.40 --Fe.sub.60 layers is canceled by placing a negative magnetostriction layer (Ni.sub.90 --Fe.sub.10) of the appropriate thickness adjacent to each Ni.sub.40 --Fe.sub.60 layer.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.