The study of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and Boron diffusion in Ta--CoFeB--MgO--CoFeB--Ta magnetic tunnel junction using polarized neutron reflectometry

The current-induced spin transfer torque (STT) plays an important role in spintronic devices. However, the level of current density needed to reorient the magnetization is presently too high for most commercial applications, and reducing the current density is the challenging basis for recent research in spintronics. The magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) with a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) enables a small critical current density for current-induced magnetization switching and provides a pathway for such STT devices. We investigated the origin of PMA in CoFeB sandwiched by MgO and Ti layers using the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) and polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR). It is found that the PMA properties of CoFeB layers deposited above and under MgO layer are different and PNR measurements confirmed that a large PMA in the CoFeB above MgO layer is related to its low magnetization. From PNR experiments, we obtained the details of the magnetic and structural depth profiles inside the film. Using the sensitivity of neutrons to the absorption cross-section of boron, we unambiguously determined the depth profile of the boron distribution and showed that after annealing, most of the boron diffused to form a 2-nm-thick interface layer between the CoFeB and tantalum layers.