Dresden 2003 – scientific programme
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MA: Magnetismus
MA 25: Spinabh
ängige Transportph
änomene I
MA 25.10: Talk
Thursday, March 27, 2003, 17:30–17:45, HSZ/04
Effect of the interface properties on the magneto-resistance of planar Fe/MgO/Fe tunnel junctions — •Arthur Ernst1, Jürgen Henk1, Mohammed Bouhassoune1, Patrick Bruno1, Markus Däne2, Diemo Ködderitzsch2, and Wolfram Hergert2 — 1MPI für Mikrostrukturphysik, Halle (Saale) — 2Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale)
Spin-dependent scattering at interfaces determines the magneto-resistance of small spintronic devices to a high degree. Planar tunnel junctions of Fe/MgO/Fe lend themselves support for a theoretical investigation of interface properties: Recent experiments found an FeO layer at the interfaces [1], instead of the ‘cut & paste’ geometry assumed in previous theoretical work.
To investigate the effect of the interface properties, in particular of the FeO layer, we performed ab-initio KKR calculations for the electronic and magnetic structures as well as for the ballistic tunnel conductance. The self-interaction correction was applied for the localized 3d-electrons in the FeO layer.
For tunnel junctions with several MgO-spacer thicknesses we find significant changes of the electronic and magnetic properties with composition of the interface layers. These changes are reflected in the wavevector-resolved conductance and, hence, in the tunnel magneto-resistance.
[1] H. L. Meyerheim, R. Popescu, J. Kirschner, N. Jedrecy, M. Sauvage-Simkin, B. Heinrich, and R. Pinchaux, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87 (2001) 076102.