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The effect of a nonmagnetic cap layer on the spin‐polarized tunneling and magnetoresistance in double‐barrier planar junctions
Author(s) -
Xie Zhengwei,
Li Bozang,
Li Yuxian
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.200301840
Subject(s) - quantum tunnelling , condensed matter physics , magnetoresistance , materials science , conductance , ferromagnetism , planar , metal , tunnel magnetoresistance , barrier layer , insulator (electricity) , layer (electronics) , optoelectronics , magnetic field , nanotechnology , physics , computer graphics (images) , quantum mechanics , computer science , metallurgy
Within the framework of the free‐electron model, the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) and tunneling conductance (TC) in double magnetic tunnel junctions (DMTJ) with nonmagnetic cap layer, i.e. the NM/FM/I/NM/(FM)/I/FM/NM junction is investigated. FM, NM and I represent the ferromagnetic metal, nonmagnetic metal and insulator, respectively, NM(FM) indicates that the middle layer can be NM or FM. Our results show that, due to the spin‐dependent interfacial potential barriers, the influences of the thickness of the FM layer on TC and TMR in DMTJ are large, and when the thicknesses of these two FM layers are suitable a large TMR can be obtained. (© 2003 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)