1. Failure Analysis in Magnetic Tunnel Junction Nanopillar with Interfacial Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy.
- Author
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Weisheng Zhao, Xiaoxuan Zhao, Boyu Zhang, Kaihua Cao, Lezhi Wang, Wang Kang, Qian Shi, Mengxing Wang, Yu Zhang, You Wang, Shouzhong Peng, Klein, Jacques-Olivier, de Barros Naviner, Lirida Alves, and Ravelosona, Dafine
- Subjects
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NANOPARTICLE synthesis , *MAGNETIC tunnelling , *COMPLEMENTARY metal oxide semiconductors , *FAILURE analysis , *PERPENDICULAR magnetic anisotropy , *SPIN transfer torque - Abstract
Magnetic tunnel junction nanopillar with interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA-MTJ) becomes a promising candidate to build up spin transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STT-MRAM) for the next generation of non-volatile memory as it features low spin transfer switching current, fast speed, high scalability, and easy integration into conventional complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuits. However, this device suffers from a number of failure issues, such as large process variation and tunneling barrier breakdown. The large process variation is an intrinsic issue for PMA-MTJ as it is based on the interfacial effects between ultra-thin films with few layers of atoms; the tunneling barrier breakdown is due to the requirement of an ultra-thin tunneling barrier (e.g., <1 nm) to reduce the resistance area for the spin transfer torque switching in the nanopillar. These failure issues limit the research and development of STT-MRAM to widely achieve commercial products. In this paper, we give a full analysis of failure mechanisms for PMA-MTJ and present some eventual solutions from device fabrication to system level integration to optimize the failure issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2016
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