Mg discontinuous insertion layer for improving mt j shunt

Abstract

A MTJ is disclosed with a discontinuous Mg or Mg alloy layer having a thickness from 1 to 3 Angstroms between a free layer and a capping layer in a bottom spin valve configuration. It is believed the discontinuous Mg layer serves to block conductive material in the capping layer from diffusing through the free layer and into the tunnel barrier layer thereby preventing the formation of conductive channels that function as electrical shunts within the insulation matrix of the tunnel barrier. As a result, the “low tail” percentage in a plot of magnetoresistive ratio vs Rp is minimized which means the number of high performance MTJ elements in a MTJ array is significantly increased, especially when a high temperature anneal is included in the MTJ fabrication process. The discontinuous layer is formed by a low power physical vapor deposition process.

Description

technical field [0001] This case is related to the case No.: HMG10-038, Application No.: 12 / 931,866, Filing Date: 2 / 11 / 11 filed by the co-assignor, which can be combined for reference as a whole. [0002] The invention relates to a high-efficiency magnetic tunnel junction element (Magnetic Tunneling Junction; MTJ), which is applied to an electronic spin device, in particular to a high-reluctance magnetic tunnel that can minimize the probability of a short circuit and further improve the production pass rate knot element. Background technique [0003] Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM) based on the combination of silicon complementary metal oxide semiconductor (silicon CMOS) and magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) technology is the main emerging technology at present. Compared with the existing semiconductor memory , such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and flash memory (Flash) are quite competitive; similarly, C.Slonczewski's...

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Problems solved by technology

[0007] like figure 1 Shown is a comparison plot of tunneling magnetoresistance ratio (DRR) versus parallel state impedance (Rp), where the short is typically seen as the lower tail, the cluster of data points outside the main population 2 towards the DDR And Rp is defined as the lower tail due to the directional spread of 0; the magnetic tunnel junction with this lower tail group has a small DRR and low Rp, which is undesirable for STT-RAM products, and it will cause a short circuit The phenomenon becomes larger, more current will be lost through the short-circuit path, and it will not be able to produce a piercing magnetoresistance

[0008] According to existing knowledge, the current magnetic tunnel junction technology cannot provide a reduction in the number of magnetic tunnel junction elements with a lower tail, while maintaining a high DRR; therefore, an improved magnetic tunnel junction structure reduces the chance of short circuit phenomena, thereby It is an urgent problem to be overcome to continue to improve the yield of magnetic tunnel junction components to provide high-efficiency devices

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