Thermally robust Mo/CoFeB/MgO trilayers with strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

• DOI: 10.1038/srep05895
• Publication Date: 2014-08-01T09:58:32Z
• Authors: T. Liu; Y. Zhang; J. W. Cai; H. Y. Pan
• Keywords: Tunnel magnetoresistance; Thermal Stability

The recent discovery of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) at the CoFeB/MgO interface has accelerated development next generation high-density non-volatile memories by utilizing tunnel junctions (p-MTJs). However, insufficient interfacial PMA in typical Ta/CoFeB/MgO system will not only complicate p-MTJ optimization, but also limit device density scalability. Moreover, rapid decreases films with annealing temperature higher than 300°C make compatibility CMOS integrated circuits a big problem. By replacing Ta buffer layer thin Mo film, we have increased structure 20%. More importantly, thermal stability perpendicularly magnetized (001)CoFeB/MgO is greatly from to 425°C, making Mo/CoFeB/MgO attractive for practical application.