International Business Machines Corporation
MTJ STACK WITH SELF-ORDERING TOP MAGNETIC FREE LAYER WITH TETRAGONAL CRYSTALLINE SYMMETRY

Abstract:

A bottom pinned magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack containing a top magnetic free layer having a high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy field is provided which can be used as an element/component of a spin-transfer torque (STT) MRAM device. The top magnetic free layer is composed of an ordered aluminum-manganese-germanium-containing alloy having a tetragonal crystalline symmetry. The top magnetic free layer is formed directly on a tunnel barrier layer of the bottom pinned MTJ stack without the need of a specialized metallic seed layer.