The structures of epitaxial ultrathin Co2FeAl/MgO(001) heterostructures relating to the interface-induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) were investigated using scanning transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. We found that Al atoms from the Co2FeAl layer significantly interdiffuse into MgO, forming an Al-deficient Co-Fe-Al/Mg-Al-O structure near the Co2FeAl/MgO interface. This atomic replacement may play an additional role for enhancing PMA, which is consistent with the observed large perpendicular orbital magnetic moments of Fe atoms at the interface. This work suggests that control of interdiffusion at ferromanget/barrier interfaces is critical for designing an interface-induced PMA system.

Epitaxial magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with a Co2FeAl/CoFe (0.5 nm)/MgAl2O4/Co2FeAl(001) structure were fabricated by magnetron sputtering. High-temperature in situ annealing led to a high degree of B2-order in the Co2FeAl layers and cation order of the MgAl2O4 barrier. Large tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) of up to 342% was obtained at room temperature (616% at 4 K), in contrast to the TMR ratio (less than or similar to 160%) suppressed by the band-folding effect in Fe/cation-ordered MgAl2O4/Fe MTJs. The present study reveals that the high degree of B2-order and the resulting high spin polarization in the Co2FeAl electrodes enable us to bypass the band-folding problem in spinel barriers. (C) 2016 The Japan Society of Applied Physics

Electrical manipulation of magnetization switching, such as spin-transfer torque (STT) switching, electric-field-assistant magnetization switching, and spin-orbit torque (SOT) switching, has been attracting great attentions due to its applications in low-power-consumption spintronic devices, such as magnetoresistive random access memories (MRAMs) and non-volatile magnetic-logic circuits. Recent investigations of electrical manipulation of magnetization switching in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) have mainly been carried out in CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB structures. However, the switching current density of those MTJs is still too high for the scaling of gigabit MRAMs. Therefore, the establishment of new ferromagnetic materials for MTJs is greatly desired.

Some of Co-based full Heusler alloys have remarkable properties in spintronics, that is, high spin polarization of conduction electrons and low magnetic damping. Owing to these properties, magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) using Co-based full Heusler alloys are potentially of particular importance for spintronic application such as magnetoresistive random access memories (MRAMs). Recently, we have first demonstrated spin transfer torque (STT) switching and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), which are required for developing high-density MRAMs, in full-Heusler Co2FeAl alloy-based MTJs. In this review, the main results of the experimental demonstrations are shown with referring to related issues, and the prospect of MTJs using Heusler alloys is also discussed.

A 4-fold-symmetry hexagonal Ru emerging in epitaxial MgO/Ru/Co2 FeAl/MgO heterostructures is reported, in which an approximately Ru(022¯3) growth attributes to the lattice matching between MgO, Ru, and Co2 FeAl. Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of the Co2 FeAl/MgO interface is substantially enhanced. The magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) incorporating this structure give rise to the largest tunnel magnetoresistance for perpendicular MTJs using low damping Heusler alloys.

We fabricated epitaxial Mg-Al-O(001) tunnel barriers using direct/indirect plasma oxidation and natural oxidation of an MgAl layer for use in Fe/Mg-Al-O/Fe magnetic tunnel junctions. All the oxidation processes formed epitaxial Mg-Al-O barriers, and a wide resistance area (RA) product range (101–106 Ω·μm2) and large tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratios (185%–212%) at room temperature were achieved by optimizing the MgAl thickness (tMgAl). Near optimum oxidation conditions and tMgAl, small bias voltage dependence of the TMR ratio, and distinct local minima in the dI/dV spectra for the parallel magnetic configuration were observed, indicating that coherent tunneling transport was significant. This study showed that Mg-Al-O coherent tunnel barriers have excellent formability in a wide RA product range.

We study polycrystalline B2-type Co2FeAl (CFA) full-Heusler-alloy-based magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) fabricated on a Si/SiO2 amorphous substrate. Polycrystalline CFA films with a (001) orientation, a high B2 ordering, and a flat surface are achieved by using a MgO buffer layer. A tunnel magnetoresistance ratio up to 175% is obtained for a MTJ with a CFA/MgO/CoFe structure on a 7.5-nm-thick MgO buffer. Spin-transfer-torque-induced magnetization switching is achieved in the MTJs with a 2-nm-thick polycrystalline CFA film as a switching layer. By using a thermal activation model, the intrinsic critical current density (J(c0)) is determined to be 8.2 x 10(6) A/cm(2), which is lower than 2.9 x 10(7) A/cm(2), the value for epitaxial CFA MTJs [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 182403 (2012)]. We find that the Gilbert damping constant (a) evaluated by using ferromagnetic resonance measurements for the polycrystalline CFA film is approximately 0.015 and is almost independent of the CFA thickness (2-18 nm). The low J(c0) for the polycrystalline MTJ is mainly attributed to the low alpha of the CFA layer compared with the value in the epitaxial one (approximately 0.04).

We studied polycrystalline B2-type Co2FeAl (CFA) full-Heusler alloy based magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) fabricated on a Si/SiO2 amorphous substrate. Polycrystalline CFA films with a (001) orientation, a high B2 ordering, and a flat surface were achieved using a MgO buffer layer. A tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio up to 175% was obtained for an MTJ with a CFA/MgO/CoFe structure on a 7.5-nm-thick MgO buffer. Spin-transfer torque induced magnetization switching was achieved in the MTJs with a 2-nm-thick polycrystalline CFA film as a switching layer. Using a thermal activation model, the intrinsic critical current density (Jc0) was determined to be 8.2 x 10^6 A/cm^2, which is lower than 2.9 x 10^7 A/cm^2, the value for epitaxial CFA-MTJs [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 182403 (2012)]. We found that the Gilbert damping constant evaluated using ferromagnetic resonance measurements for the polycrystalline CFA film was ~0.015 and was almost independent of the CFA thickness (2~18 nm). The low Jc0 for the polycrystalline MTJ was mainly attributed to the low damping of the CFA layer compared with the value in the epitaxial one (~0.04).

Perfectly lattice-matched magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) consisting of a Heusler alloy B2-Co2FeAl (CFA) electrode and a cation-disorder spinel (Mg-Al-O) barrier were fabricated by sputtering and plasma oxidation. We achieved a large tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio of 228% at room temperature (RT) (398% at 5 K) for the epitaxial CFA/MgAl-O/CoFe(001) MTJ, in which the effect of lattice defects on TMR ratios is excluded. With inserting a ultrathin (≤1.5 nm) CoFe layer between the CFA and Mg-Al-O, the TMR ratio further increased up to 280% at RT (453% at 5 K), which reflected the importance of controlling barrier-electrode interface states other than the lattice matching.

Monocrystalline Mg-Al-O barriers for magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) were fabricated by natural oxidation of Mg-Al thin films. The naturally oxidized Mg-Al-O barrier had a cation-disorder MgAl2O4 structure, and Fe/Mg-Al-O/Fe(001) MTJs showed a tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio of over 180% at room temperature. In addition, the natural oxidation process resulted in tunnel barriers with a resistance area product (RA) of less than 5 Ω·μm2. We observed clear magnetization switching in a CoFe/Mg-Al-O/CoFe MTJ by spin-transfer torque. These results indicate that the natural oxidation of Mg-Al alloy is an effective method for processing cation-disorder MgAl2O4 barrier for coherent TMR with low RA.

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in Heusler alloy Co2FeAl thin films sharing an interface with a MgO layer is investigated by angular-dependent x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. Orbital and spin magnetic moments are deduced separately for Fe and Co 3d electrons. In addition, the PMA energies are estimated using the orbital magnetic moments parallel and perpendicular to the film surfaces. We found that PMA in Co2FeAl is determined mainly by the contribution of Fe atoms with large orbital magnetic moments, which are enhanced at the interface between Co2FeAl and MgO. Furthermore, element specific magnetization curves of Fe and Co are found to be similar, suggesting the existence of ferromagnetic coupling between Fe and Co PMA directions.

We demonstrated monolithic integration of pseudo-spin-MOSFETs (PS-MOSFETs) using vendor-made MOSFETs fabricated in a low-cost multi-project wafer (MPW) product and lab-made magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) formed on the topmost passivation film of the MPW chip. The tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio of the fabricated MTJs strongly depended on the surface roughness of the passivation film. Nevertheless, after the chip surface was atomically flattened by SiO 2 deposition and successive chemical-mechanical polish (CMP) process, the fabricated MTJs on the surface exhibited a sufficiently large TMR ratio (> 140 %) adaptable to the PS-MOSFET application. The implemented PS-MOSFETs showed clear modulation of the output current controlled by the magnetization configuration of the MTJs, and a maximum magnetocurrent ratio of 90 % was achieved. These magnetocurrent behaviors were quantitatively consistent with those predicted by HSPICE simulations. The developed integration technique using a MPW CMOS chip would also be applied to monolithic integration of CMOS devices/circuits and other various functional devices/materials, which would open the door for exploring CMOS-based new functional hybrid circuits.

We fabricated perpendicularly magnetized magnetic tunnel junctions (p-MTJs) with an ultrathin Co2FeAl (CFA) full-Heusler alloy electrode having large interface magnetic anisotropy of CFA/MgO. An out-of-plane tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio of 53% at room temperature was observed in CFA/MgO/Co20Fe60B20 p-MTJs. By inserting a 0.1-nm-thick Fe (Co50Fe50) layer between the MgO and Co20Fe60B20 layers, The TMR ratio was significantly enhanced to 91% (82%) due to the improved interface. The bias voltage dependence of differential conductance did not clearly show coherent tunneling characteristics for ultrathin CFA-MTJs, suggesting that a higher TMR ratio may be achieved by improving the B2 ordering of CFA and/or interface structure.

We demonstrated spin-transfer magnetization switching using magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with a full-Heusler alloy Co2FeAl (CFA). We prepared CFA (1.5 nm)/MgO/CoFe (4 nm) (“CFA-free”) and CFA (30 nm)/MgO/CoFeB (2 nm) (“CFA-reference”) MTJs on a Cr(001) layer. The intrinsic critical current density (Jc0) of the CFA-free (CFA-reference) MTJ was 29 MA/cm2 (7.1 MA/cm2). The larger Jc0 of the CFA-free MTJ is attributed to the significant enhancement of the Gilbert damping factor (∼0.04) of the CFA due to the Cr layer. The Jc0 of the CFA-reference is as small as that reported for typical CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB MTJs.

We report on a systematic study of the structural, magnetic properties and the anomalous Hall effect, in the Heusler alloy Co2FeAl (CFA) epitaxial films on MgO(001), as a function of film thickness. It was found that the epitaxial CFA films show a highly ordered B2 structure with an in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. An analysis of the electrical transport properties reveals that the lattice and magnon scattering contributions to the longitudinal resistivity. Independent on the thickness of films, the anomalous Hall resistivity of CFA films is found to be dominated by skew scattering only. Moreover, the anomalous Hall resistivity shows weakly temperature dependent behavior, and its absolute value increases as the thickness decreases. We attribute this temperature insensitivity in the anomalous Hall resistivity to the weak temperature dependent of tunneling spin-polarization in the CFA films, while the thickness dependence behavior is likely due to the increasing significance of interface or free surface electronic states.

The spin-resolved electronic structure of buried magnetic layers is studied by hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) using a spin polarimeter in combination with a high-energy hemispherical electron analyzer at the high-brilliance BL47XU beamline (SPring-8, Japan). Spin-resolved photoelectron spectra are analyzed in comparison with the results of magnetic linear and circular dichroism in photoelectron emission in the case of buried Co2FeAl0.5Si0.5 layers. The relatively large inelastic mean free path (up to 20 nm) of fast photoelectrons enables us to extend the HAXPES technique with electron-spin polarimetry and to develop spin analysis techniques for buried magnetic multilayers and interfaces.