Incidence of in situ annealing on the nanoscale topographical/electrical properties of the tunnel barrier in sputtered epitaxial Fe/MgO/Fe multilayers
Résumé
Technological improvements in the magnetotranport performance of Fe/MgO/Fe stacks require nanoscale control over the topographical and electrical properties of the ultrathin MgO barrier. We have statistically investigated the incidence of in-situ annealing of the lower Fe layer on the nanoscale topographical/electrical properties of Fe/MgO bilayers and the structural and magnetic properties of Fe/MgO/Fe/Co multilayers prepared by sputtering. This annealing step improves the crystal quality of both the lower Fe and upper Fe/Co layers, leading to an enhanced saturated magnetic moment. Finally, this annealing step substantially mitigates the presence of nanohills on the lower Fe layer and improves the uniformity of the height and/or the thickness of MgO tunnel barrier. Our results pave the way for studies of nanoscale transport on micron-sized devices through a better understanding of, and control over, nanoscale hotspots in the tunnel barrier.
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PEER_stage2_10.1088%2F0022-3727%2F43%2F21%2F215003.pdf (2.31 Mo)
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