Phenomenological study of barrier imperfection and interfacial scattering on MgO based tunnel junctions

We investigate the barrier imperfection and interfacial scattering effects on resistance-area product (RA) and tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) of magnesium oxide (MgO) based magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ). We assume that barrier imperfection reduces the band gap of MgO; thus, it affects both TMR and RA values. The lattice mismatch between MgO and magnetic electrodes leads to interface scattering which reduces TMR. As an application, the MTJ two-state resistance variations due to the process variations are also discussed in the paper.