We investigated the effect of interfacial nitrogen (N) defects on tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) in Fe/MgO/Fe magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) which are the basic building block of magnetoresistive random access memory. The N atoms are predicted to originate from the SiN covering for antioxidation. It was found from first-principles quantum-transport calculations that the N defects significantly worsen the TMR. This is particularly evident in the MTJ models with an additional N atom at the MgO/Fe interface, because a conduction channel appears in the antiparallel magnetization configuration due to the N defects. The TMR is directly related to the read error rate of data and the scaling of the memory cell. Therefore, the prevention of nitrogen contamination during the manufacturing processes is a prerequisite for maintaining high performance.
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7 December 2022
Research Article|
December 02 2022
Effect of interfacial nitrogen defects on tunnel magnetoresistance in an Fe/MgO/Fe magnetic tunnel junction
Yutaro Ogawa;
Yutaro Ogawa
a)
(Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
1
Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University
, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
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Masaaki Araidai
;
Masaaki Araidai
b)
(Investigation, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
1
Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University
, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
2
Institute of Materials and Systems for Sustainability, Nagoya University
, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
b)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]
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Tetsuo Endoh;
Tetsuo Endoh
(Funding acquisition, Project administration, Writing – review & editing)
3
Center for Innovative Integrated Electronic Systems, Tohoku University
, Sendai 980-0845, Japan
4
Research Institute Electrical Communication, Tohoku University
, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
5
Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University
, Sendai 980-8579, Japan
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Kenji Shiraishi
Kenji Shiraishi
(Project administration, Supervision, Writing – review & editing)
1
Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University
, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
2
Institute of Materials and Systems for Sustainability, Nagoya University
, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
3
Center for Innovative Integrated Electronic Systems, Tohoku University
, Sendai 980-0845, Japan
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b)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]
a)
E-mail: [email protected]
J. Appl. Phys. 132, 213904 (2022)
Article history
Received:
October 17 2022
Accepted:
November 13 2022
Citation
Yutaro Ogawa, Masaaki Araidai, Tetsuo Endoh, Kenji Shiraishi; Effect of interfacial nitrogen defects on tunnel magnetoresistance in an Fe/MgO/Fe magnetic tunnel junction. J. Appl. Phys. 7 December 2022; 132 (21): 213904. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0126570
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