Effects of Elastic Dephasing on Scaling of ultra-small Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how elastic dephasing influences the performance and scaling of ultra-small magnetic tunnel junctions, revealing that TMR values remain practical despite dephasing effects.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of elastic dephasing effects on small MTJs using non-equilibrium Green's function formalism, highlighting their impact on TMR.

Findings

Dephasing affects tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) values.

TMR remains within a practical range despite dephasing.

Transmission spectra analysis explains the trends observed.

Abstract

The study of the effects of scaling on magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) devices has become an important topic in the field of spin-based memory devices. Here, we investigate the effect of elastic dephasing on trilayer and pentalayer MTJ considered at small transverse cross-sectional areas using the non-equilibrium Green's function spin transport formalism. We consider the structures with and without dephasing effects and clearly point out as to how the tunnel magnetoresistance effect gets affected by dephasing. We attribute the trends noted by analyzing the transmission spectra and hence the currents across the devices. Although dephasing affects the TMR values for both devices, we note that the obtained TMR values are still in a reasonable range that may not hinder their usability for practical applications.