Uncovering Atomic Migrations Behind Magnetic Tunnel Junction Breakdown.

As advances in computing technology increase demand for efficient data storage solutions, spintronic magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ)-based magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) devices emerge as promising alternatives to traditional charge-based memory devices. Successful applications of such spintronic devices necessitate understanding not only their ideal working principles but also their breakdown mechanisms. Employing an in situ electrical biasing system, atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) reveals two distinct breakdown mechanisms.

Experimental demonstration of magnetic tunnel junction-based computational random-access memory.

The conventional computing paradigm struggles to fulfill the rapidly growing demands from emerging applications, especially those for machine intelligence because much of the power and energy is consumed by constant data transfers between logic and memory modules. A new paradigm, called "computational random-access memory (CRAM)," has emerged to address this fundamental limitation. CRAM performs logic operations directly using the memory cells themselves, without having the data ever leave the memory.

Sputtered 1-FePd and its Synthetic Antiferromagnet on Si/SiO Wafers for Scalable Spintronics.

As a promising alternative to the mainstream CoFeB/MgO system with interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), 1-FePd and its synthetic antiferromagnet (SAF) structure with large crystalline PMA can support spintronic devices with sufficient thermal stability at sub-5 nm sizes. However, the compatibility requirement of preparing 1-FePd thin films on Si/SiO wafers is still unmet. In this paper, we prepare high-quality 1-FePd and its SAF on Si/SiO wafers by coating the amorphous SiO surface with an MgO(001) seed layer.