1. The impact of boron doping in the tunneling magnetoresistance of Heusler alloy Co2FeAl.
- Author
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Habiboglu, Ali, Chandak, Yash, Khanal, Pravin, Larsen, Brecken, Zhou, Bowei, Eckel, Carter, Cutshall, Jacob, Warrilow, Kennedy, O'Brien, John, Hong, Brady, Schaibley, John R., Leroy, Brian J., and Wang, Weigang
- Subjects
TUNNEL magnetoresistance ,HEUSLER alloys ,MAGNETIC tunnelling ,ATOMIC force microscopes ,INTERFACIAL roughness ,QUANTUM tunneling - Abstract
Heusler alloy-based magnetic tunnel junctions have the potential to provide high spin polarization, small damping, and fast switching. In this study, junctions with a ferromagnetic electrode of Co
2 FeAl were fabricated via room-temperature sputtering on Si/SiO2 substrates. The effect of boron doping on Co2 FeAl magnetic tunnel junctions was investigated for different boron concentrations. The surface roughness determined by atomic force microscope, and the analysis of x-ray diffraction measurement on the Co2 FeAl thin film reveals critical information about the interface. The Co2 FeAl layer was deposited on the bottom and on the top of the insulating MgO layer as two different sample structures to compare the impact of the boron doping on different layers through tunneling magnetoresistance measurements. The doping of boron in Co2 FeAl had a large positive impact on the structural and magneto-transport properties of the junctions, with reduced interfacial roughness and substantial improvement in tunneling magnetoresistance. In samples annealed at low temperature, a two-level magnetoresistance was also observed. This is believed to be related to the memristive effect of the tunnel barrier. The findings of this study have practical uses for the design and fabrication of magnetic tunnel junctions with improved magneto-transport properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2023
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