Pinhole analysis in magnetic tunnel junctions

被引：26

作者：

Schad, R ^{[1
]}

Allen, D

Zangari, G

Zana, I

Yang, D

Tondra, M

Wang, DX

机构：

[1] Univ Alabama, Dept Phys, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 USA

[2] Univ Alabama, Ctr Mat Informat Technol, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 USA

[3] Univ Alabama, Dept Met & Mat Engn, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 USA

[4] Nonvolatile Elect, Eden Prairie, MN 55344 USA

来源：

APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS | 2000年 / 76卷 / 05期

关键词：

D O I：

10.1063/1.125832

中图分类号：

O59 [应用物理学];

学科分类号：

摘要：

Pinholes in the insulating layer of magnetic tunnel junctions are local shortcuts and cause malfunction of such devices. The need for reduction of the tunnel resistance by reduction of the insulator thickness will make this problem even more severe. Therefore, the development of low-resistance magnetic tunnel junctions requires analyzing the pinhole density. We developed a method for pinhole imaging using electrodeposition of copper. Selective nucleation at pinholes produces characteristic structures that can be visualized by conventional microscopy techniques. The experimental conditions were carefully chosen in order to avoid uncontrolled damage of the insulator layer. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)01905-7].

引用

页码：607 / 609

页数：3

共 16 条

[1] Tunneling magnetoresistance in ferromagnetic junctions: Bias dependence [J].