Approaches for strain engineering of perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (pMTJs) and the resulting structures

US10868233B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Intel Corporation · US

Inventors

• Daniel G. Ouellette · Portland, US
• Christopher J. Wiegand · Portland, US
• MD Tofizur Rahman · Portland, US
• Brian Maertz · Lompoc, US
• Oleg Golonzka · Beaverton, US
• Justin S. Brockman · Portland, US
• Kevin P. O'Brien · Cincinnati, US
• Brian S. Doyle · Portland, US
• Kaan Oguz · Beaverton, US
• Tahir Ghani · Portland, US
• Mark L. Doczy · Beaverton, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 30, 2016
• Grant date: Dec 15, 2020
• Expiry date: Mar 30, 2036

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H10N50/85

Abstract

Strain engineering of perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (PMTJs) is described. In an example, a memory structure includes a perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction (pMTJ) element disposed above a substrate. A lateral strain-inducing material layer is disposed on the pMTJ element. An inter-layer dielectric (ILD) layer disposed laterally adjacent to both the pMTJ element and the lateral strain-inducing material layer.