The present disclosure generally relate to spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) devices comprising a buffer layer, a bismuth antimony (BiSb) layer having a (012) orientation disposed on the buffer layer, and an interlayer disposed on the BiSb layer. The buffer layer and the interlayer may each independently be a single layer of material or a multilayer of material. The buffer layer and the interlayer each comprise at least one of a covalently bonded amorphous material, a tetragonal (001) material, a tetragonal (110) material, a body-centered cubic (bcc) (100) material, a face-centered cubic (fcc) (100) material, a textured bcc (100) material, a textured fcc (100) material, a textured (100) material, or an amorphous metallic material. The buffer layer and the interlayer inhibit antimony (Sb) migration within the BiSb layer and enhance uniformity of the BiSb layer while further promoting the (012) orientation of the BiSb layer.

The present disclosure generally relate to spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) devices comprising a buffer layer, a bismuth antimony (BiSb) layer having a (012) orientation disposed on the buffer layer, and an interlayer disposed on the BiSb layer. The buffer layer and the interlayer may each independently be a single layer of material or a multilayer of material. The buffer layer and the interlayer each comprise at least one of a covalently bonded amorphous material, a tetragonal (001) material, a tetragonal (110) material, a body-centered cubic (bcc) (100) material, a face-centered cubic (fcc) (100) material, a textured bcc (100) material, a textured fcc (100) material, a textured (100) material, or an amorphous metallic material. The buffer layer and the interlayer inhibit antimony (Sb) migration within the BiSb layer and enhance uniformity of the BiSb layer while further promoting the (012) orientation of the BiSb layer.

A magnetic sensor whose output characteristic is less sensitive to the environmental temperature is provided. Magnetic sensor 1 has free layer 24 whose magnetization direction changes in response to an external magnetic field, pinned layer 22 whose magnetization direction is fixed with respect to the external magnetic field, spacer layer 23 that is located between pinned layer 22 and free layer 24 and that exhibits a magnetoresistance effect, and at least one magnet film 25 that applies a bias magnetic field to free layer 24. The film thickness of the magnet film is 15 nm or more and 50 nm or less. The relationship of 0.7≤T.sub.C_HM/T.sub.C_FL≤1.05 is satisfied, where T.sub.C_HM is Curie temperature of the magnet film, and T.sub.C_FL is Curie temperature of the free layer.

A position detection element includes an exchange coupling film having a large exchange coupling magnetic field and a position detection apparatus showing good detection accuracy in a high temperature environment. The position detection element includes an exchange coupling film composed of a fixed magnetic layer and an antiferromagnetic layer stacked on the fixed magnetic layer. The antiferromagnetic layer includes an X(Cr—Mn) layer containing X that is one or more elements selected from the group consisting of platinum group metals and Ni and containing Mn and Cr. The X(Cr—Mn) layer includes a PtMn layer as a first region relatively closer to the fixed magnetic layer and a PtCr layer as a second region relatively farther from the fixed magnetic layer. The content of Mn in the first region is higher than the content of Mn in the second region.

A memory element including a layered structure including a memory layer having magnetization perpendicular to a film face in which a direction of the magnetization is changed depending on information stored therein, a magnetization-fixed layer having magnetization perpendicular to the film face, which becomes a base of the information stored in the memory layer, and an intermediate layer that is formed of a non-magnetic material and is provided between the memory layer and the magnetization-fixed layer.

A magnetic read head is provided, comprising a bottom magnetic shield, a first free magnetic layer, a second free magnetic layer, and a top magnetic shield, arranged from bottom to top in this order in a stacking direction from a leading side to a trailing side of the read head. A non-soft bias layer is positioned below the top magnetic shield and on a back side of the first and the second free magnetic layers. The top magnetic shield has a unidirectional anisotropy, the magnetic moments of the top and the bottom magnetic shields are canted relative to a plane of the first and the second free magnetic layers, and the top and the bottom magnetic shields are decoupled from the non-soft bias layer and not magnetically coupled to a soft bias layer.

The present invention is directed to the fabrication of head sliders for use in hard disk drives, and in particular the provision and usage of electrical bond pads on the slider surface structure to accommodate needs of the fabrication process as well as slider operation within a disk drive.

A magnetoresistance effect element has a first ferromagnetic metal layer, a second ferromagnetic metal layer, and a tunnel barrier layer that is sandwiched between the first and second ferromagnetic metal layers, and the tunnel barrier layer has a spinel structure represented by a composition formula of AIn.sub.2O.sub.x (0<x≤4), and an A-site is a non-magnetic divalent cation which is one or more selected from a group consisting of magnesium, zinc and cadmium.

The present disclosure provides a semiconductor structure. The semiconductor structure includes a substrate, a transistor region, a first and a second contact plug, a first metal via, a magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) structure, and a metal interconnect. The transistor region includes a gate over the substrate, and a first and a second doped regions at least partially in the substrate. The first and the second contact plug are over the transistor region. The first and the second contact plug include a coplanar upper surface. The first metal via and the MTJ structure are over the first and the second contact plug, respectively. The first metal via is leveled with the MTJ structure. The metal interconnect is over the first metal via and the MTJ structure, and the metal interconnect includes at least two second metal vias in contact with the first metal via and the MTJ structure, respectively.

A magnetoresistive effect element includes: a first ferromagnetic layer; a second ferromagnetic layer; and a non-magnetic layer provided between the first ferromagnetic layer and the second ferromagnetic layer, wherein the non-magnetic layer includes a first layer and a second layer, and wherein a lattice constant α of the first layer and a lattice constant β of the second layer satisfy a relationship of β−0.04×α≤2×α≤β+0.04 ×α.