Abstract
Polycrystalline Co2Mn1-xSi (CMS) thin films with Mn-deficiency can grow on different types of substrates such as MgO (1 0 0) single crystal, alpha-sapphire (0 0 0 1) and Si coated with SiO2 either by using V or Ta/Cu as the seed layer. The magnetic property, especially the coercivity of the CMS thin films strongly depends on the crystalline structure and microstructure of the CMS thin film, hence it is affected by the substrate and also the seed layer. Very soft CMS thin film with coercivity of about 20 Oe has been obtained when MgO (1 0 0) is used as the substrate. Magnetic tunnel junctions (with MR ratio of about 9%-18%) by utilizing the CMS as one of ferromagnetic electrodes have been successfully fabricated. The degradation of the magnetoresistive effect of the MTJ after magnetic annealing is attributed to the diffusion of the Mn-atoms into the tunnel barrier during the annealing process. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.