Reduced resistance drift in tunnel junctions using confined tunnel barriers

Metal-insulator-metal (MIM) tunnel junctions with the aluminum oxide tunnel barriers confined between cobalt electrodes exhibit less resistance drift over time than junctions that utilize a thick, unconfined aluminum electrode. The improved long time stability is attributed to better initial oxide quality achieved through confinement (use of a potential energy well for the oxygen) and plasma oxidation. In this work, Co/AlOx/Co and Co/Al/AlOx/Co tunnel junction aging is compared over a period of approximately 9 months using transport measurements and Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) based modelling. The Co/AlOx/Co (confined) tunnel junction resistance increased by (32 ± 6) % over 5400 h, while Co/Al/AlOx/Co (unconfined) tunnel junction resistance increased by (85 ± 23) % over 5200 h. Fit parameters for the tunnel barrier width and potential energy barriers were extracted using WKB transport modelling. These values change only a small amount in the confined Co/AlOx/Co tunnel junction but show a significant drift in the unconfined Co/AlOx/Co tunnel junction.