Etching damage induced performance degradation in spin transfer torque magnetic random access memory fabrication

Damage mechanisms and related performance degradations induced by ion beam etching (IBE) process in the fabrication of magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) were studied systematically. The loss in tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) and coercive field (Hc) was investigated with different MTJ pillar sizes and IBE incident angles. It is found that IBE-induced damage is the formation of a surficial amorphous shell in the outer rim of an MTJ pillar. This amorphous shell is of low conductivity and TMR, mainly arising from the lattice damage of MgO barrier and partial oxidation of free/reference layers. Based on experimental and theoretical findings, we optimized the IBE process to reduce the damage as well as recover from degradation. As a result, the TMR loss ratio in comparison with a blanket film is reduced from about 18% to 7%, and Hc is increased from 1490 to 2280 Oe for the same stack.