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We developed a tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) sensor consisting of a CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) and a CoFeSiB amorphous soft magnetic layer. This multilayer structure is promising for a high-sensitivity sensor because a giant TMR ratio of the MTJ and a small anisotropy field Hk of the free layer can be obtained simultaneously. However, the soft magnetic properties of the CoFeSiB layer disappear when it is annealed at above the crystallization temperature (around 300 °C), which determines the thermal tolerance of the TMR sensor and limits improvements to the sensor's sensitivity and applications. In this study, we doped the CoFeSiB layer with various amounts of Ta to raise its crystallization temperature. TMR sensors using the Ta-doped CoFeSiB layers showed thermal tolerance to annealing temperatures above 425 °C, whereas the sensor with the undoped CoFeSiB layer was tolerant to annealing temperatures up to 325 °C. As well, the Ta doping effectively reduced Hk of the CoFeSiB layer, which resulted in a sensitivity of 50%/Oe, over three times higher than the sensor with the undoped CoFeSiB layer. These results pave the way toward next-generation TMR sensors having higher sensitivity and wider applicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB-based magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with a soft magnetic composite free layer have been developed for magnetic sensor applications. Tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratios in the sensor-type MTJs have reached a ceiling due to a trade-off between the TMR ratio and interlayer exchange coupling (IEC) depending on the spacer thickness of the composite free layer. In this study, we developed a paramagnetic amorphous TaFeB-alloy spacer to replace the conventional Ta spacer and solve this trade-off. The TaFeB film showed a wider thickness window for a sufficient IEC, resulting in IEC energy values of 0.18–0.19 erg/cm2 at a thickness of 1.0 nm. In addition, we confirmed that the TaFeB film had an ability to function as a boron sink comparable to that of pure Ta. These characteristics allowed us to thicken the TaFeB spacer up to 1.0 nm in the sensor-type MTJs and attain an enhanced TMR ratio of up to 234%, which is the highest compared with cases using the conventional Ta spacer reported to date. These findings demonstrate that TaFeB alloy is a promising material for breaking the ceiling of sensor-type MTJs and increasing sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thanks to their high magnetoresistance and integration capability, magnetic tunnel junction-based magnetoresistive sensors are widely utilized to detect weak, low-frequency magnetic fields in a variety of applications. The low detectivity of MTJs is necessary to obtain a high signal-to-noise ratio when detecting small variations in magnetic fields. We fabricated serial MTJ-based sensors with various junction area and free-layer electrode aspect ratios. Our investigation showed that their sensitivity and noise power are affected by the MTJ geometry due to the variation in the magnetic shape anisotropy. Their MR curves demonstrated a decrease in sensitivity with an increase in the aspect ratio of the free-layer electrode, and their noise properties showed that MTJs with larger junction areas exhibit lower noise spectral density in the low-frequency region. All of the sensors were able detect a small AC magnetic field (Hrms = 0.3 Oe at 23 Hz). Among the MTJ sensors we examined, the sensor with a square-free layer and large junction area exhibited a high signal-to-noise ratio (4792 ± 646). These results suggest that MTJ geometrical characteristics play a critical role in enhancing the detectivity of MTJ-based sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]