First-principles study of Fe/MgO based magnetic tunnel junctions with Mg interlayers

Yan Wang, Jia Zhang, X. G. Zhang, Hai Ping Cheng, X. F. Han

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

-Fe(001)/Mg/MgO/Fe- and -Fe(001)/Mg/MgO/Mg/Fe- magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with Mg interlayers are studied by first-principles calculations. We find that the Mg interlayer is able to preserve the preferential transmission of the majority-spin states with Δ1 symmetry, which dominates the spin-dependent electron transport in MTJs with MgO barrier. A monoatomic layer of Mg at the electrode/barrier interface does not decrease the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio nearly as much as a similar layer of iron oxide. We also find that at a certain Mg thickness the TMR is strongly influenced by resonant tunneling in the minority-spin channel. These resonances are due to the coupling between the quantum-well states within the Mg interlayer to the interfacial resonance states on the Fe/Mg interface. The calculated results are used to explain experimental measurements of MTJs with Mg interlayers.

Original languageEnglish
Article number054405
JournalPhysical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
Volume82
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 4 2010
Externally publishedYes

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