Abstract
Fully epitaxial magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) were fabricated with a full-Heusler alloy Co2Cr0.6Fe0.4Al (CCFA) thin film and a MgO tunnel barrier. Cross-sectional high-resolution transmission electron microscope observations clearly showed that all layers of CCFA/MgO/Co50Fe50 MTJ layer structures were grown epitaxially and were single-crystalline. The fully epitaxial CCFA/MgO/Co50Fe50 MTJs, where we used the difference in the coercive forces to form the antiparallel magnetization configurations between the lower and upper electrodes, demonstrated high tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratios of 90% at room temperature (RT) and 240% at 4.2 K. This result suggested that a CCFA film composition close to the stoichiometric one is essential for obtaining high spin polarizations in CCFA thin films. The fully epitaxial CCFA/MgO/Co50Fe50 MTJs with exchange-biasing, where a Co50Fe50 upper electrode was used in a synthetic ferrimagnetic Co50Fe50/Ru/Co90Fe10 trilayer exchange-biased with an IrMn layer through the Co90Fe10/IrMn interface, exhibited high TMR ratios of 109% at RT and 317% at 4.2 K. From the obtained TMR ratio of 317% at 4.2 K, a high tunneling spin polarization of 0.88 at 4.2 K was estimated for epitaxial CCFA films with the B2 structure. These results confirm the promise of an epitaxial MTJ using a Co-based full-Heusler alloy as a key device structure for utilizing the potentially high spin polarization of this material system.
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