Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with a stacking structure of Co2MnSi∕Al–O∕Co2MnSi were fabricated using magnetron sputtering system. Fabricated MTJ exhibited an extremely large tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio of 570% at low temperature, which is the highest TMR ratio reported to date for an amorphous Al–O tunneling barrier. The observed dependence of tunneling conductance on bias voltage clearly reveals the half-metallic energy gap of Co2MnSi. The origins of large temperature dependence of TMR ratio were discussed on the basis of the present results.

A large tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio of 753% has been observed at 2 K in a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) using a Co2MnSi Heusler alloy electrode and a crystalline MgO tunnel barrier. This TMR ratio is the largest reported to date in MTJs using a Heusler alloy electrode. Moreover, we have observed a large TMR ratio of 217% at room temperature (RT). This TMR at RT is much larger than that of MTJs using an amorphous Al-oxide tunnel barrier. However, the temperature dependence of the TMR ratio is still large because of inelastic tunneling in the antiparallel magnetic configuration.

Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with a stacking structure of epitaxial Co2MnSi/Al–O barrier/poly-crystalline Co75Fe25 were fabricated using an ultrahigh vacuum sputtering system. The epitaxial Co2MnSi bottom electrode exhibited highly ordered L21 structure and very smooth surface morphology. Observed magnetoresistance (MR) ratios of 70% at room temperature (RT) and 159% at 2 K are the highest values to date for MTJs using a Heusler alloy electrode. A high spin-polarization of 0.89 at 2 K for Co2MnSi obtained from Julliere's model coincided with the half-metallic band structure that was predicted by theoretical calculations.

We propose a new-type of thermopile consisting of two ferromagnetic materials with anomalous Nernst effects (ANEs) of opposite signs. L1 0 -FePt and L1 0 -MnGa have been chosen as the materials because they show large ANEs with opposite signs. The combination of perpendicularly magnetized FePt and MnGa wires enhances the ANE voltage effectively. The ANE in in-plane magnetized FePt films induced by applying a perpendicular temperature difference shows no variation against the film thickness, which is a promising characteristic for thermoelectric applications because the internal resistance of the thermopile, which determines the extractable electric power, can be reduced by increasing the thickness of ferromagnetic wires. #

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Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) using L10-ordered CoPt electrodes with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy were fabricated. Full-epitaxial CoPt∕MgO∕CoPt-MTJs were prepared onto single crystal MgO-(001) substrate by sputtering method. X-ray diffraction analyses revealed that both bottom and top CoPt electrodes were epitaxially grown with (001)-orientation. The L10-chemical order parameter of 0.82 was obtained for the bottom CoPt electrode deposited at substrate temperature of 600°C. The transport measurements with applying magnetic field perpendicular to the film plane showed a tunnel magnetoresistance ratio of 6% at room temperature and 13% at 10K.

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Material dependence of the anomalous Nernst effect (ANE) in perpendicularly magnetized ordered-alloy thin films is systematically investigated. The ANE was found to have a tendency to increase simply as uniaxial magnetic anisotropy increased at room temperature. The ANE increases as temperature increases from 10 to 300 K for all the materials. However, the signs of the ANE in Fe-based ordered-alloys (L10-FePt and L10-FePd) and in a Co/Ni multilayer are opposite to those in Mn-based ordered-alloys (L10-MnGa and D022-Mn2Ga). Ordered-alloys with larger uniaxial magnetic anisotropies reveal larger ANE and might be desirable for thermoelectric applications.