Estudo de junções túnel magnéticas com barreiras isolantes piezoelétricas de AlN

Abstract

We analyze the possibility of using aluminum nitride (AlN) as a piezoelectric tunnel barrier in magnetic or non-magnetic tunnel junctions. Samples in the form of monolayers, bilayers, multilayers and tunnel junctions were produced by magnetron sputtering from an aluminum metal target. The insulating AlN barrier was grown in a reactive atmosphere of argon and nitrogen. Through the monolayers and bilayers we investigated the growth conditions of AlN onto different substrates, buffer, and cap layers. Using x-ray diffraction and transmission electronic microscopy it was possible to verify the excellent degree of texturing of AlN films with the direction <002> perpendicular the substrate plane. The multilayer showed that the use of AlN as a piezoelectric tunnel barrier is feasible, since the crystallographic structure remains when the thickness of the AlN is drastically reduced to a thickness so that quantum tunneling is possible. We also held magnetization measurements and tunnel magnetoresistance in magnetic tunnel junctions. It is important that the coercive fields of the electrodes are different, so that from the application of an external field can be obtained a situation where the magnetization of the electrodes point in opposite directions. The average thickness of the tunnel barrier in multilayers and tunnel junctions were obtained by x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The nonlinear IxV curves of tunnel junctions were measured at room temperature and at lower temperatures, and showed a linear behavior at low voltages, and a nonlinear behavior for higher voltages. Measurements of tunnel magnetoresistance showed spin dependent tunneling. Simulations using the Simmons model for symmetric barrier allowed us to obtain the effective area of tunneling, effective thickness of the barrier, and the height of the barrier. Effective area values are some orders of magnitude smaller than the actual area of the junctions, and transmission electron microscopy pictures show that the tunnel transport occurs at some hot spots. In the measurements of the IxV curves we observe a minimum thickness of 6nm for the insulating barrier to be piezoelectric, as the polarization effect was detected. The curves have a shift to negative bias, both in magnetic and non-magnetic tunnel junctions. Using the results of the simulation we verified the exponential pattern of resistance, normalized by the effective area of tunneling, depending on the thickness of the insulator. For effective barrier thickness above 1nm, the barrier height increases with insulator thickness, as expected. For barrier thickness between 0;8 and 1nm, there is a decline in barrier height. We have not found recorded in the literature this type of behavior for normal insulating systems or for piezoelectric materials.