We studied the CoFeB thickness and composition dependence of tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) and resistance-area product (RA) in a modified CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ), in which the bottom CoFeB is coupled to an in-plane exchange biased magnetic layer. This stack structure allows us to measure TMR and RA of the MTJs in sheet film format without patterning them, using current-in-plane-tunneling (CIPT) technique. The thickness ranges for both top and bottom CoFeB to exhibit perpendicular magnetic anisotropy are similar to what are seen in each single magnetic film stack. However, CIPT measurement revealed that there exists an optimal thickness for both top and bottom CoFeB to achieve the highest TMR value. Magnetic hysteresis loops also suggest the thickness-dependent coupling between the top and bottom CoFeB layers. We studied MTJs with two CoFeB compositions (Co40Fe40B20 and Co20Fe60B20) and found that Co20Fe60B20 MTJs give higher TMR and also wider perpendicular thickness range when used at the top layer.
We report a stack structure which utilizes an in-plane exchange-biased magnetic layer to influence the coercivity of the bottom CoFeB layer in a CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction. By employing a thickness wedge deposition technique, we were able to study various aspects of this stack using vibrating sample magnetometer including: (1) the coupling between two CoFeB layers as a function of MgO thickness; and (2) the coupling between the bottom CoFeB and the in-plane magnetic layer as a function of Ta spacer thickness. Furthermore, modification of the bottom CoFeB coercivity allows one to measure tunneling magnetoresistance and resistance-area product (RA) of CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB in this pseudo-spin-valve format using current-in-plane-tunneling technique, without resorting to (Co/Pt)n or (Co/Pd)n multilayer pinning.
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