Fabrication and Reliability Analysis of Nanoscale Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

Magnetic tunnel junction with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (p-MTJ) is the core component in spintronics-based memory, logic and sense devices, the synthetic anti-ferromagnetic (SAF) has been used to fix the reference layer and cancel the stray field in free layer and few works report the SAF-based reliability analysis of p-MTJ nanopillars. Here, we developed a complete set of method for single p-MTJ devices using CMOS compatible process, and manufactured 80-nm diameter p-MTJs with lower performance degrade. The results of our p-MTJs also revealed that anomalous transitions in major resistance versus external magnetic field (R-H) curves can be assisted with the uncompensated SAF flipping after nanofabrication, even though well magnetostatic matched during film stack design. We have also given a reliability analysis of magnetization states in anomalous major R-H curves and implied that SAF parameters must be designed for etched nanopillars.