Effect of interfacial structures on spin dependent tunneling in epitaxial L10-FePt/MgO/FePt perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions

Spin-dependent tunneling in magnetic tunnel junctions

The phenomenon of electron tunneling has been known since the advent of quantum mechanics, but continues to enrich our understanding of many fields of physics, as well as creating sub-fields on its own. Spin-dependent tunneling in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) has recently aroused enormous interest and has developed in a vigorous field of research. The large tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR)...

Interfacial resonance state probed by spin-polarized tunneling in epitaxial Fe/MgO/Fe tunnel junctions.

The direct impact of the electronic structure on spin-polarized transport has been experimentally proven in high-quality Fe/MgO/Fe epitaxial magnetic tunnel junctions, with an extremely flat bottom Fe/MgO interface. The voltage variation of the conductance points out the signature of an interfacial resonance state located in the minority band of Fe(001). When coupled to a metallic bulk state, t...

Effect of spin-dependent screening on tunneling electroresistance and tunneling magnetoresistance in multiferroic tunnel junctions

Negative spin polarization and large tunneling magnetoresistance in epitaxial Co/SrTiO(3)/Co magnetic tunnel junctions.

We perform an ab initio study of spin-polarized tunneling in epitaxial Co/SrTiO(3)/Co magnetic tunnel junctions with bcc Co(001) electrodes. We predict a large tunneling magnetoresistance in these junctions, originating from a mismatch in the majority- and minority-spin bands both in bulk bcc Co and at the Co/SrTiO(3)/Co interface. The intricate complex band structure of SrTiO(3) enables effici...

Spin-polarized resonant tunneling in magnetic tunnel junctions.

Insertion of a thin nonmagnetic copper Cu(001) layer between the tunnel barrier and the ferromagnetic electrode of a magnetic tunnel junction is shown to result in the oscillation of the tunnel magnetoresistance as a function of the Cu layer thickness. The effect is interpreted in terms of the formation of spin-polarized resonant tunneling. The amplitude of the oscillation is so large that even...