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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11908496-B2
Application number	US-202218082721-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 16, 2022
Priority date	Aug 18, 2021
Publication date	Feb 20, 2024
Grant date	Feb 20, 2024

Abstract

The present disclosure generally relate to spin-orbit torque (SOT) 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) device, comprising:
a topological insulator (TI) modulation multilayer, the TI modulation multilayer comprising an alternating stack, the alternating stack repeating one or more times, wherein the alternating stack comprises:
one or more texturing layers; and
one or more TI lamellae layers comprising BiSb and clusters of atoms, the clusters of atoms comprising a carbide, a nitride, an oxide, or a composite ceramic material.

2. The SOT device of claim 1 , wherein the BiSb of the one or more TI lamellae layers has a crystal orientation of (012), 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.

3. The SOT device of claim 1 , wherein:
the carbide 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,
the oxide 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,
the nitride 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.

4. The SOT device of claim 1 , wherein the TI modulation multilayer further comprises one or more bismuth (Bi) or bismuth-rich bismuth antimony (BiSb) composition modulation layers comprising bismuth in an atomic percent of greater than or equal to about 96%.

5. The SOT device of claim 4 , wherein the alternating stack comprises:
a first TI lamellae layer of the one or more TI lamellae layers; and
a first texturing layer of the one or more texturing layers disposed in contact with the first TI lamellae layer, wherein the alternating stack is disposed on a first Bi or BiSb composition modulation layer of the one or more Bi or BiSb composition modulation layers such that the first TI lamellae layer is disposed in contact with the first Bi or BiSb composition modulation layer.

6. The SOT device of claim 4 , wherein the alternating stack comprises:
a first Bi or BiSb composition modulation layer of the one or more Bi or BiSb composition modulation layers;
a first TI lamellae layer of the one or more TI lamellae layers disposed on the first Bi or BiSb composition modulation layer;
a second Bi or BiSb composition modulation layer of the one or more Bi or BiSb composition modulation layers disposed on the first TI lamellae layer; and
a first texturing layer of the one or more texturing layer disposed on the second Bi or Bi Sb composition modulation layer.

7. The SOT device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more TI lamellae layers are co-deposited with the clusters of atoms in a modulated orientation.

8. The SOT device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more TI lamellae layers are co-deposited with the clusters of atoms in an edge orientation.

9. The SOT device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more TI lamellae layers are co-deposited with the clusters of atoms in a uniformly or non-uniformly distributed orientation.

10. A magnetic recording device comprising a magnetic recording head, the magnetic recording head comprising:
a spin-orbit torque (SOT) device, comprising:
a topological insulator (TI) modulation multilayer, the TI modulation multilayer comprising an alternating stack, the alternating stack repeating one or more times, wherein the alternating stack comprises:
one or more texturing layers; and
one or more TI lamellae layers comprising BiSb and clusters of atoms, the clusters of atoms comprising a carbide, a nitride, an oxide, or a composite ceramic material.

11. A magneto-resistive memory comprising:
a spin-orbit torque (SOT) device, comprising:
a topological insulator (TI) modulation multilayer, the TI modulation multilayer comprising an alternating stack, the alternating stack repeating one or more times, wherein the alternating stack comprises:
one or more texturing layers; and
one or more TI lamellae layers comprising BiSb and clusters of atoms, the clusters of atoms comprising a carbide, a nitride, an oxide, or a composite ceramic material.

12. A spin-orbit torque (SOT) device, comprising:
a topological insulator (TI) modulation multilayer, the TI modulation multilayer comprising:
two or more bismuth (Bi) or bismuth-rich bismuth antimony (BiSb) composition modulation layers comprising bismuth in an atomic percent greater than or equal to about 96%;
a plurality of TI lamellae layers comprising BiSb having a crystal orientation of (012) and clusters of atoms, the clusters of atoms comprising a carbide, a nitride, an oxide, or a composite ceramic material; and
one or more texturing layers.

13. The SOT device of claim 12 , wherein a first TI lamellae layer of the plurality of TI lamellae layers is disposed in contact with a first Bi or BiSb composition modulation layer of the two or more Bi or BiSb composition modulation layers and a first texturing layer of the one or more texturing layers.

14. The SOT device of claim 12 , wherein a first TI lamellae layer of the plurality of TI lamellae layers is disposed in contact with a first texturing layer of the one or more texturing layers and a second texturing layer of the one or more texturing layers.

15. The SOT device of claim 12 , wherein a first TI lamellae layer of the plurality of TI lamellae layers is disposed in contact with a first Bi or BiSb composition modulation layer of the two or more Bi or BiSb composition modulation layers and a second Bi or BiSb composition modulation layer of the two or more Bi or BiSb composition modulation layers.

16. The SOT device of claim 12 , wherein a first texturing layer of the one or more texturing layers is disposed in contact with a first Bi or BiSb composition modulation layer of the two or more Bi or BiSb composition modulation layers and a second Bi or BiSb composition modulation layer of the two or more Bi or BiSb composition modulation layers.

17. A magnetic recording device comprising a magnetic recording head, the magnetic recording head comprising:
a spin-orbit torque (SOT) device, comprising:
a topological insulator (TI) modulation multilayer, the TI modulation multilayer comprising:
two or more bismuth (Bi) or bismuth-rich bismuth antimony (BiSb) composition modulation layers comprising bismuth in an atomic percent greater than or equal to about 96%;
a plurality of TI lamellae layers comprising BiSb having a crystal orientation of (012) and clusters of atoms, the clusters of atoms comprising a carbide, a nitride, an oxide, or a composite ceramic material; and
one or more texturing layers.

18. A magneto-resistive memory comprising:
a spin-orbit torque (SOT) device, comprising:
a topological insulator (TI) modulation multilayer, the TI modulation multilayer comprising:
two or more bismuth (Bi) or bismuth-rich bismuth antimony (BiSb) composition modulation layers comprising bismuth in an atomic percent greater than or equal to about 96%;
a plurality of TI lamellae layers comprising BiSb having a cr

Assignees

• Western Digital Tech Inc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H10N50/80

  Constructional details · CPC title

• H10N50/85

  Materials of the active region · CPC title

• G11B5/3909 Primary

  Arrangements using a magnetic tunnel junction · CPC title

• G11B5/313

  Disposition of layers · 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