Influence of roughness and disorder on tunneling magnetoresistance

P.X. Xu, V. Karpan, K. Xia, M. Zwierzycki, I. Marushchenko, P.J. Kelly

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Abstract

A systematic, quantitative study of the effect of interface roughness and disorder on the magnetoresistance of FeCo|vacuum|FeCo magnetic tunnel junctions is presented based upon parameter-free electronic structure calculations. Surface roughness is found to have a very strong effect on the spin-polarized transport while that of disorder in the leads (leads consisting of a substitutional alloy) is weaker but still sufficient to suppress the huge tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) predicted for ideal systems.
Original languageEnglish
Article number180402
Number of pages4
JournalPhysical review B: Condensed matter and materials physics
Volume73
Issue number18
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2006

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