DOI: 10.1063/1.2717556. Spin transfer switching in dual MgO magnetic tunnel junctions

Spin transfer switching in dual MgO magnetic tunnel junctions

10.1063/1.2717556

Crossref journal-article

AIP Publishing

Applied Physics Letters (317)

Abstract

Dual magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structures consisting of two MgO insulating barriers of different resistances, two pinned reference layers aligned antiparallel to one another, and a free layer embedded between the two insulating barriers have been developed. The electron transport and spin dependent resistances in the dual MTJ structures are accounted for by sequential tunneling with some spin-flip relaxation in the central electrode (the free layer). With a tunneling magnetoresistance ratio of 70%, a switching current density Jc (at 30ms) of 0.52MA∕cm2 is obtained, corresponding to an intrinsic value of Jc0 (at 1ns) of 1.0MA∕cm2. This value of Jc0 is 2–3 times smaller than that of a single MgO insulating barrier MTJ structure and results from improvements in the spin-transfer torque efficiency. The asymmetry between JcAP→P and JcP→AP is significantly improved, which widens the read-write margin for memory device design. In addition, the experimental results show that the switching current density can be further reduced when an external field is applied along the hard axis of the free layer.

Bibliography

Diao, Z., Panchula, A., Ding, Y., Pakala, M., Wang, S., Li, Z., Apalkov, D., Nagai, H., Driskill-Smith, A., Wang, L.-C., Chen, E., & Huai, Y. (2007). Spin transfer switching in dual MgO magnetic tunnel junctions. Applied Physics Letters, 90(13).

Authors 12

Zhitao Diao (first)
Alex Panchula (additional)
Yunfei Ding (additional)
Mahendra Pakala (additional)
Shengyuan Wang (additional)
Zhanjie Li (additional)
Dmytro Apalkov (additional)
Hideyasu Nagai (additional)
Alexander Driskill-Smith (additional)
Lien-Chang Wang (additional)
Eugene Chen (additional)
Yiming Huai (additional)

References 24 Referenced 148

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10.1038/nmat1256 / Nat. Mater. (2004)
10.1038/nmat1257 / Nat. Mater. (2004)
10.1063/1.2139849 / Appl. Phys. Lett. (2005)
Nguyen Paul P. and YimingHuai , U.S. Patent No. 6958927 (9 October 2002);
{'year': '2004', 'key': '2023080103335887300_c5b'} (2004)
10.1063/1.2138363 / Appl. Phys. Lett. (2005)
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10.1103/PhysRevB.72.180405 / Phys. Rev. B (2005)
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Dates

Type	When
Created	18 years, 5 months ago (March 29, 2007, 9:24 a.m.)
Deposited	2 years, 1 month ago (July 31, 2023, 11:34 p.m.)
Indexed	1 week, 3 days ago (Aug. 27, 2025, 12:15 p.m.)
Issued	18 years, 5 months ago (March 26, 2007)
Published	18 years, 5 months ago (March 26, 2007)
Published Online	18 years, 5 months ago (March 28, 2007)
Published Print	18 years, 5 months ago (March 26, 2007)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Diao_2007, title={Spin transfer switching in dual MgO magnetic tunnel junctions}, volume={90}, ISSN={1077-3118}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.2717556}, DOI={10.1063/1.2717556}, number={13}, journal={Applied Physics Letters}, publisher={AIP Publishing}, author={Diao, Zhitao and Panchula, Alex and Ding, Yunfei and Pakala, Mahendra and Wang, Shengyuan and Li, Zhanjie and Apalkov, Dmytro and Nagai, Hideyasu and Driskill-Smith, Alexander and Wang, Lien-Chang and Chen, Eugene and Huai, Yiming}, year={2007}, month=mar }

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  "abstract": "<jats:p>Dual magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structures consisting of two MgO insulating barriers of different resistances, two pinned reference layers aligned antiparallel to one another, and a free layer embedded between the two insulating barriers have been developed. The electron transport and spin dependent resistances in the dual MTJ structures are accounted for by sequential tunneling with some spin-flip relaxation in the central electrode (the free layer). With a tunneling magnetoresistance ratio of 70%, a switching current density Jc (at 30ms) of 0.52MA\u2215cm2 is obtained, corresponding to an intrinsic value of Jc0 (at 1ns) of 1.0MA\u2215cm2. This value of Jc0 is 2\u20133 times smaller than that of a single MgO insulating barrier MTJ structure and results from improvements in the spin-transfer torque efficiency. The asymmetry between JcAP\u2192P and JcP\u2192AP is significantly improved, which widens the read-write margin for memory device design. In addition, the experimental results show that the switching current density can be further reduced when an external field is applied along the hard axis of the free layer.</jats:p>",
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