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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Crucial role of interfacial s−d exchange interaction in the temperature dependence of tunnel magnetoresistance

Keisuke Masuda1,*, Terumasa Tadano1, and Yoshio Miura1,2

  • 1Research Center for Magnetic and Spintronic Materials, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba 305-0047, Japan
  • 2Center for Spintronics Research Network, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531, Japan

  • *MASUDA.Keisuke@nims.go.jp
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Phys. Rev. B 104, L180403 – Published 3 November, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.104.L180403

Abstract

The tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) is one of the most important spintronic phenomena but its reduction at finite temperature is a severe drawback for applications. Here, we reveal a crucial determinant of the drawback, that is, the s−d exchange interaction between conduction s and localized d electrons at interfacial ferromagnetic layers. By calculating the temperature dependence of the TMR ratio in Fe/MgO/Fe(001), we show that the obtained TMR ratio significantly decreases with increasing temperature owing to the spin-flip scattering in the Δ1 state induced by the s−d exchange interaction. The material dependence of the coupling constant Jsd is also discussed on the basis of a nonempirical method.

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Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. B 104, L180403– Published 3 November, 2021
  • Received 2 August 2021
  • Revised 21 October 2021
  • Accepted 25 October 2021
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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