Everspin Technologies, Inc.

Applied Materials, Inc.

Motorola Corporation

Renu Whig

Jon Michael Slaughter

Nicholas David Rizzo

Jijun Sun

Sanjeev Aggarwal

Dimitri Houssameddine

Srinivas V Pietambaram

Phillip G Mather

Jason A Janesky

Frederick B Mancoff

Kenneth H Smith

Bengt J Akerman

Han-Jong Chia

Rongjun Wang

Eugene Youjun Chen

Jianxin Lei

Sumio Ikegawa

John C Forster

Keith A Miller

Kirankumar Neelasandra Savandaiah

Tza-Jing Gung

Chi Hong Ching

Lei Zhou

Xiaodong Wang

Irena H Wysok

Halbert Chong

Tiefeng Shi

Zhiyong Wang

Sundarapandian Ramalinga Vijayalakshmi Reddy

Michael Tran

Gang Fu

Philip Mather

Ganesh Kolliyil Rajan

Avinash Nayak

Jacob Wang Chenchen

John Slaughter

A magnetoresistive device includes a magnetically fixed region and a magnetically free region positioned on opposite sides of a tunnel barrier region. One or more transition regions, including at least a first transition region and second transition region, is positioned between the magnetically fixed region and the tunnel barrier region. The first transition region includes a non-ferromagnetic transition metal and the second transition region includes an alloy including iron and boron.

Magnetoresistive stack and methods therefor

A magnetoresistive element (e.g., a spin-torque magnetoresistive memory element) includes a fixed magnetic layer, a free magnetic layer, having a high-iron alloy interface region located along a surface of the free magnetic layer, wherein the high-iron alloy interface region has at least 50% iron by atomic composition, and a first dielectric, disposed between the fixed magnetic layer and the free magnetic layer. The magnetoresistive element further includes a second dielectric, having a first surface that is in contact with the surface of the free magnetic layer, and an electrode, disposed between the second dielectric and a conductor. The electrode includes: (i) a non-ferromagnetic portion having a surface that is in contact with a second surface of the second dielectric, and (ii) a second portion having at least one ferromagnetic material disposed between the non-ferromagnetic portion of the electrode and the conductor.

Magnetoresistive stack and method of fabricating same

A magnetoresistive stack/structure and method of manufacturing same comprising wherein the stack/structure includes a seed region, a fixed magnetic region disposed on and in contact with the seed region, a dielectric layer(s) disposed on the fixed magnetic region and a free magnetic region disposed on the dielectric layer(s). In one embodiment, the seed region comprises an alloy including nickel and chromium having (i) a thickness greater than or equal to 40 Angstroms (+/−10%) and less than or equal to 60 Angstroms (+/−10%), and (ii) a material composition or content of chromium within a range of 25-60 atomic percent (+/−10%) or 30-50 atomic percent (+/−10%).

Magnetoresistive stack with seed region and method of manufacturing the same

Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate are provided herein. For example, a processing chamber for processing a substrate comprises a sputtering target, a chamber wall at least partially defining an inner volume within the processing chamber and connected to ground, a power source comprising an RF power source, a process kit surrounding the sputtering target and a substrate support, an auto capacitor tuner (ACT) connected to ground and the sputtering target, and a controller configured to energize the cleaning gas disposed in the inner volume of the processing chamber to create the plasma and tune the sputtering target using the ACT to maintain a predetermined potential difference between the plasma in the inner volume and the process kit during the etch process to remove sputtering material from the process kit, wherein the predetermined potential difference is based on a resonant point of the ACT.

Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate

A magnetically free region of magnetoresistive device includes at least a first ferromagnetic region and a second ferromagnetic region separated by a non-magnetic insertion region. At least one of the first ferromagnetic region and the second ferromagnetic region may include at least a boron-rich ferromagnetic layer positioned proximate a boron-free ferromagnetic layer.

Magnetoresistive stacks and methods therefor

A magnetoresistive magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack includes a free magnetic region, a fixed magnetic region, and a dielectric layer positioned between the free magnetic region and the fixed magnetic region. In one aspect, the fixed magnetic region consists essentially of an unpinned, fixed synthetic anti-ferromagnetic (SAF) structure which comprises (i) a first layer of one or more ferromagnetic materials, including cobalt, (ii) a multi-layer region including a plurality of layers of ferromagnetic materials, wherein the plurality of layers of ferromagnetic materials include a layer of one or more ferromagnetic materials including cobalt, and (iii) an anti-ferromagnetic coupling layer disposed between the first layer and the multi-layer region. The free magnetic region may include a circular shape, the one or more ferromagnetic materials of the first layer may include cobalt, iron and boron, and the dielectric layer may be disposed on the first layer.

Magnetoresistive stacks with an unpinned, fixed synthetic anti-ferromagnetic structure and methods of manufacturing thereof

A magnetoresistive stack/structure and method of manufacturing same comprising wherein the stack/structure includes a seed region, a fixed magnetic region disposed on and in contact with the seed region, a dielectric layer(s) disposed on the fixed magnetic region and a free magnetic region disposed on the dielectric layer(s). In one embodiment, the seed region comprises an alloy including nickel and chromium having (i) a thickness greater than or equal to 40 Angstroms (+/&#x2212;10%) and less than or equal to 60 Angstroms (+/&#x2212;10%), and (ii) a material composition or content of chromium within a range of 25-60 atomic percent (+/&#x2212;10%) or 30-50 atomic percent (+/&#x2212;10%).

A semiconductor process integrates three bridge circuits, each include magnetoresistive sensors coupled as a Wheatstone bridge on a single chip to sense a magnetic field in three orthogonal directions. The process includes various deposition and etch steps forming the magnetoresistive sensors and a plurality of flux guides on one of the three bridge circuits for transferring a 'Z' axis magnetic field onto sensors orientated in the XY plane.

Methods of manufacturing a magnetic field sensor

A method of forming a tunnel layer of a magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM) structure includes forming a first magnesium oxide (MgO) layer by sputtering an MgO target using radio frequency (RF) power, exposing the first MgO layer to oxygen for approximately 5 seconds to approximately 20 seconds at a flow rate of approximately 10 sccm to approximately 15 sccm, and forming a second MgO layer on the first MgO layer by sputtering the MgO target using RF power. The method may be performed after periodic maintenance of a process chamber to increase the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) of the tunnel layer.

Methods for treating magnesium oxide film

Methods and apparatus for forming a magnetic tunnel element are provided herein. A method of forming a magnetic tunnel element includes: depositing a magnetic layer atop a cobalt-chromium seed layer; and depositing a tunnel layer atop the magnetic layer to form a magnetic tunnel element, wherein the magnetic tunnel element has a TMR greater than 100. For example, a cobalt/platinum material or one or more layers thereof may be deposited directly atop a cobalt-chromium seed layer to produce improved devices.

Apparatus and methods of fabricating a magneto-resistive random access memory (MRAM) device

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Chandler, AZ, United States of America

Renu Whig