Investigation of ZnO thin films deposited on ferromagnetic metallic buffer layer by molecular beam epitaxy toward realization of ZnO-based magnetic tunneling junctions.

Deposition of ZnO thin films on a ferromagnetic metallic buffer layer (Co3Pt) by molecular beam epitaxy technique was investigated for realization of ZnO-based magnetic tunneling junctions with good quality hexagonal ZnO films as tunnel barriers. For substrate temperature of 600 °C, ZnO films exhibited low oxygen defects and high electrical resistivity of 130 Ω cm. This value exceeded that of hexagonal ZnO films grown by sputtering technique, which are used as tunnel barriers in ZnO-MTJs. Also, the effect of oxygen flow during deposition on epitaxial growth conditions and Co3Pt surface oxidation was discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]