https://doi.org/10.1140/e10051-002-0001-2
Interpretation of the magnetoresistance in doped magnetic tunnel junctions
1
CEA, Département de Recherche Fondamentale sur la Matière Condensée,
SP2M/NM, 38054 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
2
Department of Physics, Moscow Lomonosov University Moscow, 119699,
Russian Federation
3
Information Storage Technology Group, MESA Research Institute, University of
Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
Corresponding author: a bdieny@cea.fr
Received:
1
February
2001
Revised:
14
June
2001
Published online: 15 January 2002
We present a quantum mechanical model of the magnetoresistance in ferromagnetic tunnel junctions artificially doped by the introduction of layers of impurities in the middle of the barrier. The electron transport across the barrier is described by a combination of direct tunneling, tunneling assisted by spin-conserving scattering and tunneling assisted by spin-flip scattering. With this model, we interpret recent experimental results concerning the dependence of the TMR amplitude on the amount of impurities in the barrier and on temperature.
PACS: 75.70.-i – Magnetic properties of thin films, surfaces, and interfaces / 73.50.Jt – Galvanomagnetic and other magnetotransport effects (including thermomagnetic effects) / 85.30.Mn – Junction breakdown and tunneling devices (including resonance tunneling devices)
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2002
