Annealing free magnetic tunnel junction sensors

Annealing is a major step in the fabrication of magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). It sets the exchange bias between the pinned and antiferromagnetic layers, and helps to increase the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) in both amorphous and crystalline junctions. Recent research on MTJs has focused on MgO-based structures due to their high TMR. However, the strict process control and mandatory annealing step can limit the scope of the application of these structures as sensors. In this paper, we present AlOx-based MTJs that are produced by ion beam sputtering and remote plasma oxidation and show optimum transport properties with no annealing. The microfabricated devices show TMR values of up to 35% and using NiFe/CoFeB free layers provides tunable linear ranges, leading to coercivity-free linear responses with sensitivities of up to 5.5%/mT. The top-pinned synthetic antiferromagnetic reference shows a stability of about 30 mT in the microfabricated devices. Sensors with linear ranges of up to 60 mT are demonstrated. This paves the way for the integration of MTJ sensors in heat-sensitive applications such as flexible substrates, or for the design of low-footprint on-chip multiaxial sensing devices. (paper)