Investigation of Types and Mechanisms of MTJ Function Failure Induced by Heavy Ion Irradiation

We study the physical law of the influence of ion fluence on the electrical properties of magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ). We find for the first time that high-energy ionization radiation damage caused the failure of MTJ electrical functions in our experiment. The main failure modes are high and low resistance state failures, of which 79.9% are high resistance state failures. Our results show that the damage caused by a single Ta ion with 10.9 MeV/u cannot cause the electrical function of MTJ to fail. Combining theoretical calculations and Monte Carlo simulation analysis, we derive that the damage to the tunnel insulating layer and the ferromagnetic film in the MTJ is the internal cause of high and low resistance state failure.