Transmission electron microscopy study of the Fe(001) | MgO(001) interface for magnetic tunnel junctions

Chao Wang, Shouguo Wang, Amit Kohn, Roger C.C. Ward, Amanda K. Petford-Long

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is employed to characterize ex situ the interface between the bottom Fe (001) electrode and MgO (001) barrier in a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) deposited by molecular beam epitaxy. High resolution TEM images are compared with multislice-based simulations of oxidized and sharp interfaces to conclude that at least the part of the interface is not oxidized. In addition, the spacing between the Fe and O layers at the interface is measured and found to be comparable with theoretical calculations in the literature of sharp interfaces. This result offers a methodology to characterize the interface structure of MTJs, which is important to determine the magneto-transport properties of the device.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2779-2781
Number of pages3
JournalIEEE Transactions on Magnetics
Volume43
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2007
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Electron microscopy
  • Epitaxial growth
  • Interface phenomena
  • Oxidation
  • Tunnel junction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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