Conductance enhancement due to interface magnons in electron-beam evaporated MgO magnetic tunnel junctions with CoFeB free layer deposited at different pressure

Abstract

Electron-beam evaporated MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions have been fabricated with the CoFeB free layer deposited at Ar pressure from 1 to 4 mTorr, and their tunneling process has been studied as a function of temperature and bias voltage. By changing the growth pressure, the junction dynamic conductance dI/dV, inelastic electron tunneling spectrum d(2)I/dV(2), and tunneling magnetoresistance vary with temperature. Moreover, the low-energy magnon cutoff energy E-C derived from the conductance versus temperature curve agrees with interface magnon energy obtained directly from the inelastic electron tunneling spectrum, which demonstrates that interface magnons are involved in the electron tunneling process, opening an additional conductance channel and thus enhancing the total conductance. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.