Perpendicular-anisotropy CoFeB-MgO magnetic tunnel junctions with a MgO/CoFeB/Ta/CoFeB/MgO recording structure

We investigated perpendicular CoFeB-MgO magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with a recording structure consisting of two CoFeB-MgO interfaces, MgO/CoFeB (1.6 nm)/Ta (0.4 nm)/CoFeB (1.0 nm)/MgO. Thermal stability factor of MTJ with the structure having junction size of 70 nm phi was increased by a factor of 1.9 from the highest value of perpendicular MTJs with single CoFeB-MgO interface having the same device structure. On the other hand, intrinsic critical current for spin transfer torque switching of the double-and single-interface MTJs was comparable. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4736727]