Effects of swift heavy ion bombardment on magnetic tunnel junction functional properties

In this article, we report on recent irradiation experiments on magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) using either light (C, O) or heavy (Ni) ion beams with energies in the range of 10 MeV/A. For all ions, albeit with different fluence thresholds, the tunnel magnetoresistance decreases irreversibly with increasing ion fluence, with conversely little or no impact on overall resistance. This can only be explained by a modification of the alumina barrier stoechiometry, rather than by interdiffusion. Measurements on irradiated so-called "spin-mirrors" sheet films show that AlOx/metal interface is altered by radiations. Finally, it is shown that MTJs are not a fortiori insensible to swift heavy ion bombardment. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.