Tunnel anisotropic magnetoresistance in magnetic tunnel junctions using FeAlSi

S. Akamatsu; T. Nakano; Muftah Al-Mahdawi; W. Yupeng; M. Tsunoda; Y. Ando; M. Oogane

doi:10.1063/9.0000440

AIP Advances (Feb 2023)

Tunnel anisotropic magnetoresistance in magnetic tunnel junctions using FeAlSi

S. Akamatsu,
T. Nakano,
Muftah Al-Mahdawi,
W. Yupeng,
M. Tsunoda,
Y. Ando,
M. Oogane

Affiliations

S. Akamatsu: Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan
T. Nakano: Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan
Muftah Al-Mahdawi: Center for Science and Innovation in Spintronics (Core Research Cluster) Organization for Advanced Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
W. Yupeng: Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan
M. Tsunoda: Department of Electronic Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan
Y. Ando: Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan
M. Oogane: Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/9.0000440
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 13, no. 2
pp. 025005 – 025005-4

Abstract

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We fabricated magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with FeAlSi free layers and investigated the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) properties at low temperature. We observed TMR ratio increase with temperature decrease, and confirmed the TMR ratio of 179.9% at 10 K. The conductance dependence on bias voltage was measured, and a clear peak at low bias voltage similar to Fe/MgO/Fe MTJs was observed. This behavior can be explained by considering the majority band of Fe(001), and Δ5 electrons tunneling in FeAlSi/MgO/CoFeB MTJs at low bias voltage. We also investigated tunnel anisotropic magneto-resistance (TAMR) and clearly observed a TAMR peak similar to Fe/MgO/Fe MTJs, where the TAMR ratio of FeAlSi/MgO/CoFeB MTJs was 1.0% comparable to 1.1% in Fe/MgO/Fe MTJs. We concluded that electron tunneling was caused by the interfacial resonance states originating from spin orbit coupling in the FeAlSi/MgO/CoFeB MTJs.

Published in AIP Advances

ISSN: 2158-3226 (Online)
Publisher: AIP Publishing LLC
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Science: Physics
Website: http://aipadvances.aip.org/

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