BiSbX (012) layers having increased operating temperatures for SOT and MRAM devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11532323-B1
Application number	US-202117405954-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 18, 2021
Priority date	Aug 18, 2021
Publication date	Dec 20, 2022
Grant date	Dec 20, 2022

Abstract

The present disclosure generally relate to spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) devices comprising a topological insulator (TI) modulation layer. The TI modulation layer comprises a plurality of bismuth or bismuth-rich composition modulation layers, a plurality of TI lamellae layers comprising BiSb having a (012) crystal orientation, and a plurality of texturing layers. The TI lamellae layers comprise dopants or clusters of atoms, the clusters of atoms comprising a carbide, a nitride, an oxide, or a composite ceramic material. The clusters of atoms are configured to have a grain boundary glass forming temperature of less than about 400° C. Doping the TI lamellae layers comprising BiSb having a (012) crystal orientation with clusters of atoms comprising a carbide, a nitride, an oxide, or a composite ceramic material enable the SOT MTJ device to operate at higher temperatures while inhibiting migration of Sb from the BiSb of the TI lamellae layers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device, comprising:
a topological insulator (TI) modulation layer, the TI modulation layer comprising:
a plurality of bismuth or bismuth-rich bismuth antimony (BiSb) composition modulation layers comprising bismuth in an atomic percent of about 96% to about 100%;
a plurality of TI lamellae layers, wherein the TI lamellae layers are co-deposited with clusters of atoms, the clusters of atoms comprising a carbide, a nitride, an oxide, or a composite ceramic material, and wherein the clusters of atoms are configured to have a grain boundary glass forming temperature of less than about 400° C. at a grain boundary with a bulk melting temperature less than about 1400° C.; and
a plurality of texturing layers.

2. The SOT MTJ device of claim 1 , wherein the TI lamellae layers comprise BiSb having a crystal orientation of (012).

3. The SOT MTJ device of claim 1 , wherein the composite ceramic material has a melting temperature less than about 1400° C.

4. The SOT MTJ device of claim 1 , wherein the texturing layers are selected from the group consisting of: an amorphous material comprising covalently bonded carbide, oxide, or nitride, a face centered cubic (fcc) material, a tetragonal material, a body centered cubic (bcc) material, and a metallic amorphous material.

5. The SOT MTJ device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a buffer layer, wherein the TI modulation layer is disposed over the buffer layer; and
an interlayer disposed on the TI modulation layer.

6. The SOT MTJ device of claim 5 , wherein a first bismuth or bismuth-rich BiSb composition modulation layer of the plurality of bismuth or bismuth-rich BiSb composition modulation layers is disposed in contact with the buffer layer, and a second bismuth or bismuth-rich BiSb composition modulation layer of the plurality of bismuth or bismuth-rich BiSb composition modulation layers is disposed in contact with the interlayer.

7. The SOT MTJ device of claim 1 , wherein the carbide material is selected from the group consisting of: ScC, TiC, NbC, ZrC, HfC, TaC, WC, SiC, and composite combinations thereof with one or more elements selected from the group consisting of: W, Al, and Si, and wherein the oxide material is selected from the group consisting of: FeO, CoC, ZrO, MgO, TiO, ZnO, and composite combinations thereof with one or more elements selected from the group consisting of: W, Al, and Si.

8. The SOT MTJ device of claim 1 , wherein the nitride material is selected from the group consisting of: ScN, TiN, NbN, ZrN, HfN, TaN, GaN, FeN, and composite combinations thereof with one or more elements selected from the group consisting of: W, Al, and Si, and wherein the composite ceramic material is selected from the group consisting of: Bi, Pb, Ga, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Zr, Nb, Mo, In, Ir, Ru, V, Os, Rh, Pd, WV, CrV, CrNb, Ge, ZnNb, ZnTa, Co, Mg, Sn, Sb, Te, Hf, Ta, W, oxides thereof, nitrides thereof, carbides thereof, and alloys thereof.

9. A magnetoresistive random-access memory device comprising the SOT MTJ device of claim 1 .

10. A magnetic recording device comprising the magnetic recording head of claim 9 .

11. A magneto-resistive memory comprising the SOT MTJ of claim 1 .

12. A spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device, comprising:
a topological insulator (TI) modulation layer, the TI modulation layer comprising:
a plurality of bismuth or bismuth-rich composition modulation layers comprising bismuth in an atomic percent of about 96% to about 100%;
a plurality of TI lamellae layers comprising bismuth antimony (BiSb) having a crystal orientation of (012), wherein the TI lamellae layers are co-deposited with clusters of atoms, the clusters of atoms comprising a carbide, a nitride, an oxide, or a composite ceramic material; and
a plurality of texturing layers, wherein each texturing layer is alternatingly layered between a TI lamellae layer.

13. The SOT MTJ device of claim 12 , wherein the TI lamellae layers are co-deposited with the clusters of atoms in a modulated orientation.

14. The SOT MTJ device of claim 12 , wherein the TI lamellae layers are co-deposited with the clusters of atoms in an edge orientation.

15. The SOT MTJ device of claim 12 , wherein the TI lamellae layers are co-deposited with the clusters of atoms in a uniformly or non-uniformly distributed orientation.

16. The SOT MTJ device of claim 12 , wherein the carbide material is selected from the group consisting of: ScC, TiC, NbC, ZrC, HfC, TaC, WC, SiC, and composite combinations thereof with one or more elements selected from the group consisting of: W, Al, and Si.

17. The SOT MTJ device of claim 12 , wherein the nitride material is selected from the group consisting of: ScN, TiN, NbN, ZrN, HfN, TaN, GaN, FeN, and composite combinations thereof with one or more elements selected from the group consisting of: W, Al, and Si.

18. The SOT MTJ device of claim 12 , wherein the oxide material is selected from the group consisting of: FeO, CoC, ZrO, MgO, TiO, ZnO, and composite combinations thereof with one or more elements selected from the group consisting of: W, Al, and Si.

19. A magnetoresistive random-access memory device comprising the SOT MTJ device of claim 12 .

20. A magnetic recording device comprising the magnetic recording head of claim 19 .

21. A magneto-resistive memory comprising the SOT MTJ of claim 12 .

22. A spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device, comprising:
a buffer layer;
an interlayer disposed over the buffer layer; and
a topological insulator (TI) modulation layer disposed between the buffer layer and the interlayer, the TI modulation layer comprising:
a plurality of bismuth or bismuth-rich bismuth antimony (BiSb) composition modulation layers comprising bismuth in an atomic percent of about 96% to about 100%;
a plurality of TI lamellae layers comprising BiSb having a crystal orientation of (012), wherein the TI lamellae layers are co-deposited with clusters of atoms, the clusters of atoms comprising a carbide, a nitride, an oxide, or a composite ceramic material, wherein each TI lamellae layer is disposed in contact with two bismuth or bismuth-rich BiSb composition modulation layers; and
a plurality of texturing layers, wherein each texturing layer is disposed in contact with two bismuth or bismuth-rich BiSb composition modulation layers.

23. The SOT MTJ device of claim 22 , wherein the carbide material is selected from the group consisting of: ScC, TiC, NbC, ZrC, HfC, TaC, WC, SiC, and composite combinations thereof with one or more elements selected from the group consisting of: W, Al, and Si.

24. The SOT MTJ device of claim 22 , wherein the nitride material is selected from the group consisting of: ScN, TiN, NbN, ZrN, HfN, TaN, GaN, FeN, and composite combinations thereof with one or more elements selected from the group consisting of: W, Al, and Si.

25. The SOT MTJ device of claim 22 , wherein the oxide material is selected from the group consisting of: FeO, CoC, ZrO, MgO, TiO, ZnO, and composite combinations thereof with one or more elements selected from the group consisting of: W, Al, and Si.

26. The SOT MTJ device of claim 22 , wherein the composite ceramic material is selected from the group consisting of: Bi, Pb, Ga, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Zr, Nb, Mo, In, Ir, Ru, V, Os, Rh, Pd, WV, CrV, CrNb, Ge, ZnNb, ZnTa, Co, Mg, Sn, Sb, Te, H

Assignees

• Western Digital Tech Inc

Inventors

• Le Quang
• York Brian R
• Hwang Cherngye
• Okamura Susumu
• Liu Xiaoyong
• Ho Kuok San
• Takano Hisashi

Classifications

• G11C11/161

  details concerning the memory cell structure, e.g. the layers of the ferromagnetic memory cell · CPC title

• H01F10/329

  Spin-exchange coupled multilayers wherein the magnetisation of the free layer is switched by a spin-polarised current, e.g. spin torque effect · CPC title

• G11B5/314 Primary

  where the layers are extra layers normally not provided in the transducing structure, e.g. optical layers (G11B5/3196 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G11B5/3909 Primary

  Arrangements using a magnetic tunnel junction · CPC title

• G11B5/313

  Disposition of layers · CPC title