Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in CoXPd100−X alloys for magnetic tunnel junctions

•CoPd alloy perpendicular anisotropy dependent on composition and thickness.•CIPT results show that TMR tracks with PMA of CoPd.•Potential replacement for Co/Pd multilayers. CoFeB/MgO-based perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (p-MTJ’s) with high anisotropy and low damping are critical for spin-torque transfer random access memory (STT-RAM). Most schemes of making the pinned CoFeB fully perpendicular require ferrimagnets with high damping constants, a high temperature-grown L10 alloy, or an overly complex multilayered synthetic antiferromagnet (SyAF). We report a compositional study of perpendicular CoxPd alloy-pinned Co20Fe60B20/MgO based MTJ stacks, grown at moderate temperatures in a planetary deposition system. The perpendicular anisotropy of the CoxPd alloy films can be tuned based on the layer thickness and composition. The films were characterized by alternating gradient magnetometry (AGM), energy-dispersive X-rays (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Current-in-plane tunneling (CIPT) measurements have also been performed on the compositionally varied CoxPd MTJ stacks. The CoxPd alloy becomes fully perpendicular at approximately x=30% (atomic fraction) Co. Full-film MTJ stacks of Si/SiO2/MgO (13)/CoXPd100−x (50)/Ta (0.3)/CoFeB (1)/MgO (1.6)/CoFeB (1)/Ta (5)/Ru (10), with the numbers enclosed in parentheses being the layer thicknesses in nm, were sputtered onto thermally oxidized silicon substrates and in-situ lamp annealed at 400°C for 5min. CIPT measurements indicate that the highest TMR is observed for the CoPd composition with the highest perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.