• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.170-181
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• 2006

Spin dependent tunneling has enormously activated the field of magnetism in general, and in particular spin transport studies, in the past ten years. Thousands of articles related to the subject have appeared with many fundamental results. Importantly, there is great interest in their potential for application. There was another surge of activity in this field since the past five years - created by the theoretical prediction of a large tunnel magnetoresistance that arises due to band symmetry matched coherent tunneling in epitaxial magnetic tunnel junctions with (001) MgO barrier and experimentally well demonstrated. This further development in the field has boosted the excitement in both fundamental science as well as the possibility of application in such as magnetic random access memory, ultra sensitive read heads, biosensors and spin torque diodes. This review is a brief coverage of the field highlighting the literature that deals with magnetic tunnel junctions having epitaxial MgO tunnel barriers.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.169-172
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• 2011

This study reports an alternative method for measuring the magnetoresistance of unpatterned magnetic tunnel junctions similar to the current-in-plane tunneling (CIPT) method. Instead of using microprobes, a series of point contacts with different spacings are coated on the top surface of the junctions and R-H loops at various spacings are then measured by the usual four-point probe method. The values of magnetoresistance and resistance-area products can be obtained by fitting the measured data to the CIPT theoretical model. The test results of two types of junctions were highly similar to those obtained from standard CIPT tools. The proposed method may help to accelerate the process for evaluating the quality of magnetic tunnel junctions when commercial CIPT tools are not accessible.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.121-126
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• 2011

Spin dynamics of magnetic tunnel junctions with free and fixed reference layers is investigated by ferromagnetic resonance micromagnetic simulations. First, in magnetic tunnel junctions with an exchange biased synthetic ferrimagnetic reference layer, a magnetization direction of each layer and the tunneling magnetoresistance are calculated for a DC magnetic field. To investigate the spin exciting modes in magnetic tunnel junctions, we simulate the ferromagnetic resonance frequency spectra with small RF magnetic fields. Exciting modes of the tunneling magnetoresistance calculated by an included angle between free and reference layers is interpreted from those of each layer. Spin exciting modes are different according to a signs of the DC magnetic field. In a negative magnetic field, FMR frequency spectra of free and reference layers are well elucidated by the modified Kittel's equation. However, in a positive magnetic field, there is no simple analytic solution related to FMR frequency spectra due to the coupled modes. Since ferromagnetic layers in magnetic tunnel junctions are interactive each other, careful considerations of the reference and fixed layer as well as the free layer are required for understanding on the spin dynamics of magnetic tunnel junctions with an exchange biased synthetic ferrimagnetic reference layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.136-137
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• 1999

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.140-144
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• 2011

We report on a numerical calculation study of two new functional properties in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), negative dynamic resistance and RF amplification. The magnetic dynamics in a conventional CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB MTJ with in-plane magnetization was investigated using a macro-spin model simulation. To examine the influence of thermal fluctuations, random external magnetic fields were also included. Using a voltage controlled bias circuit, the negative dynamic resistance was obtained from time averaged I-V characteristics at both 0 K and 300 K under appropriate external magnetic fields and bias voltages. Using this negative dynamic resistance property, we demonstrated RF amplification with a 100 MHz high frequency signal. Sizable RF amplification gain was observed without thermal fluctuation. However, at 300 K, the RF signal was not amplified because low frequency magnetization dynamics were dominant.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
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• 2014.05a
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• pp.57-57
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• 2014

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
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• 2002.12a
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• pp.152-153
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• 2002

The report on large tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) at room temperature in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ), composed of two ferromagnetic electrodes separated by a thin insulating barrier, has ignite the intensive research both from scientific and technological points of view. A simple model proposed by Juliere has explained the observed TMR surprisingly well, where the TMR is expressed in terms of the spin polarization P of the ferromagnetic electrodes. (omitted)

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.688-693
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• 2001

A series of Fe/CeO$_2$/Fe$_{75}$Co$_{25}$ tunnel junctions (Magnetic Tunnel Junction, MTJ) having CeO$_2$ barrier layers from 30 to 90$\AA$ in thickness were prepared by ion beam sputtering (IBS) method. In order to compare the properties of MTJs, Fe/Al oxide/Fe-Co tunnel junctions were also prepared. Some junctions with a CeO$_2$ barrier layer showed the ferromagnetic tunneling effect and the highest MR ratio at room temperature was 5%. The electric resistance of junctions with a CeO$_2$ barrier layer was higher that that of junctions with an Al oxide barrier. On the other hand, The interface analysis of the Fe/CeO$_2$ bilayer was conducted by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It was found that CeO$_2$ was decomposed to Ce and $O_2$ during sputtering, and Fe was oxidized with these decomposed $O_2$ molecules. The reduction of both electric resistance and MR ratio may be associated with the decomposed Ce in the barrier layer.r.r.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
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• 2002.12a
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• pp.68-69
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• 2002

Magnetic tunnel junctions은 최근 자기저항용 재료나 MRAM용 소자로 사용하기 위한 연구가 활발하게 진행되고 있다. Magnetic tunnel junction을 저자계, 저전력용 소자로 사용되기 위해서는, 작은 switching field 값과 uniform한 switching field 분포를 가져야 한다. Micromagnetic simulation을 통하여 free layer의 두께와 포화 자화 값이 감소함에 따라서 switching field가 감소함을 알 수 있었다. 본 연구에서는 얇은 free layer를 사용하여 magnetic tunnel junction을 제조하고, 얇은 free layer가 자기저항에 미치는 영향에 대하여 알아보았다. (중략)

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.13-16
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• 2004

Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) comprising amorphous CoNbZr layers have been investigated. $Co_{85.5}Nb_8Zr_{6.5}$(in at. %) layers were employed to substitute the traditionally used Ta layers with an emphasis given on under-standing underlayer effect. The typical junction structure was $SiO_2/CoNbZr$ or Ta 2/CoFe 8/IrMn 7.5/CoFe 3/Al 1.6 + oxidation/CoFe 3/CoNbZr or Ta 2 (nm). For both as-deposited state and after annealing, the CoNbZr-underlayered structure showed superior surface smoothness up to the tunnel barrier than Ta-underlayerd one (rms roughness of 0.16 vs. 0.34 nm). CoNbZr-based MTJs was proven beneficial for increasing thermal stability and increasing $V_h$ (the bias voltage where MR ratio becomes half) characteristics than Ta-based MTJs. This is because the CoNbZr-based junctions offer smoother interface structure than the Ta-based one.