Magnetic Tunnel Junction as an On-Chip Temperature Sensor

Potential of AlP and GaN as barriers in magnetic tunnel junctions

AlP and GaN are wide band gap semiconductors used industrially in light emitting diodes. We investigate their potential as tunnel barriers in magnetic tunnel junctions, employing density functional theory and the non-equilibrium Green's function method for ground state and quantum transport calculations, respectively. We show that the valence band edges are dominated by pz orbitals and the conduction band edges are dominated by s orbitals. Both materials filter Bloch states of Δ1 symmetry at the Γ-point of the Brillouin zone. In the zero bias limit, we find for the Co/AlP/Co junction a high tunnel magnetoresistance of ∼200% at the Fermi energy and for the Co/GaN/Co junction a tunnel magnetoresistance of even ∼300% about 1.4 eV below the Fermi energy.

Electromagnetic Radiation Effects on MgO-Based Magnetic Tunnel Junctions: A Review

Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) have been widely utilized in sensitive sensors, magnetic memory, and logic gates due to their tunneling magnetoresistance. Moreover, these MTJ devices have promising potential for renewable energy generation and storage. Compared with Si-based devices, MTJs are more tolerant to electromagnetic radiation. In this review, we summarize the functionalities of MgO-based MTJ devices under different electromagnetic irradiation environments, with a focus on gamma-ray radiation. We explore the effects of these radiation exposures on the MgO tunnel barriers, magnetic layers, and interfaces to understand the origin of their tolerance. This review enhances our knowledge of the radiation tolerance of MgO-based MTJs, improves the design of these MgO-based MTJ devices with better tolerances, and provides information to minimize the risks of irradiation under various irradiation environments. This review starts with an introduction to MTJs and irradiation backgrounds, followed by the fundamental properties of MTJ materials, such as the MgO barrier and magnetic layers. Then, we review and discuss the MTJ materials and devices' radiation tolerances under different irradiation environments, including high-energy cosmic radiation, gamma-ray radiation, and lower-energy electromagnetic radiation (X-ray, UV-vis, infrared, microwave, and radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation). In conclusion, we summarize the radiation effects based on the published literature, which might benefit material design and protection.

Magnetic Tunnel Junction Applications

Spin-based devices can reduce energy leakage and thus increase energy efficiency. They have been seen as an approach to overcoming the constraints of CMOS downscaling, specifically, the Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ) which has been the focus of much research in recent years. Its nonvolatility, scalability and low power consumption are highly attractive when applied in several components. This paper aims at providing a survey of a selection of MTJ applications such as memory and analog to digital converter, among others.