International Business Machines Corporation

Matthias Georg Gottwald

Alexander Reznicek

Stephen L Brown

Guohan Hu

A memory device including a pedestal structure containing a cobalt aluminum layer and a magnesium-aluminum-oxide containing base layer both of which have a (001) crystal orientation is provided. The memory device further includes a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) pillar containing an ordered alloy forming an interface with the cobalt aluminum alloy layer. The use of the structural and textural engineered pedestal structure provides improved control of resistance, as well as improved magnetic properties such as higher tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) and higher perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), and closer distribution of the ordered alloy.

Textured cobalt aluminum/magnesium-aluminum-oxide pedestal for memory devices

A semiconductor device that includes a substrate, a crystalline bottom electrode layer on an upper side of the semiconductor substrate, a conductive crystalline metal layer above the crystalline bottom electrode layer, and a conductive oxide layer above the conductive crystalline metal layer. The conductive oxide layer has a low resistance. The semiconductor device also includes a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) above the conductive crystalline metal layer, the MTJ including a tunnel barrier layer, a free layer on a first side of the tunnel barrier layer and a reference layer on a second side of the tunnel barrier layer opposite the first side.

Reactive serial resistance reduction for magnetoresistive random-access memory devices

A top pinned SAF-containing magnetic tunnel junction structure is provided that contains a coupling spacer composed of a paramagnetic hexagonal metal phase material that has a stoichiometric ratio of MeX or MeX, wherein Me is a magnetic metal having a magnetic moment and X is a metal that alloys with Me in a hexagonal phase and dilutes the magnetic moment of Me. In embodiments in which a MeX coupling spacer is present, Me is cobalt, and X is vanadium, niobium, tantalum, molybdenum or tungsten. In embodiments in which a MeX coupling spacer is present, Me is iron and X is tantalum or tungsten. The coupling spacer is formed by providing a material stack including at least a precursor paramagnetic hexagonal metal phase material forming multilayered structure that includes alternating layers of magnetic metal, Me, and metal, X, and then thermally soaking the material stack.

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Ridgefield, CT, United States of America

Matthias Georg Gottwald