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US 9,287,494 B1Granted
Magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) with a magnesium oxide tunnel barrier
AssigneeWestern Digital (Fremont), LLC
InventorsMingLang Yan, Xiaobo Huang, Jian X. Shen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for fabricating a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) is disclosed. The process involves annealing a stack that includes a tunnel barrier layer and cooling the stack under vacuum immediately after annealing. At least one overlayer is deposited on the tunnel barrier layer to form the MTJ.
Claims18
A method for fabricating a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) comprising:
- forming a stack that includes a tunnel barrier layer;
- annealing the stack immediately after the tunnel barrier layer is deposited;
- cooling the stack under vacuum;
- and
- then depositing at least one overlayer on the tunnel barrier layer to form the MTJ after the step of cooling the stack under vacuum.
2 more elements
A method for fabricating a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) comprising:
- providing a stack of layers;
- depositing a tunnel barrier layer on the stack of layers to form an intermediate structure;
- annealing the intermediate structure after the tunnel barrier layer is deposited and in the absence of a magnetic field;
- and
- cooling the tunnel barrier layer under vacuum prior to depositing at least one overlayer to form the MTJ.
2 more elements
A method for fabricating a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) comprising:
- forming a stack of layers;
- depositing a tunnel barrier layer on the stack of layers to form an intermediate structure
- annealing the intermediate structure after the tunnel barrier layer is deposited;
- and
- cooling the tunnel barrier layer under vacuum prior to depositing at least one overlayer to form an MTJ, wherein the MTJ has an MR ration between 60% and 90% at resistance-area product values between 0.55 and 085 Ωμm2.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.