Increase of temperature due to Joule heating during current-induced magnetization switching of an MgO-based magnetic tunnel junction

Three-dimensional numerical calculations based on the finite element method are performed to calculate the increase of temperature caused by Joule heating during the current-induced magnetization switching of an MgO-based magnetic tunnel junction. The increase of temperature is found to be significantly large (the maximum being 145 K) at critical conditions for the current-induced magnetization switching. The temperature increase also differs greatly, depending on the critical condition, requiring a correction in calculating the thermal stability parameter using the Slonczewski equation. After the correction, the thermal stability parameter increases substantially from 67 to 76. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.