International business machines corporation (20240107894). MRAM DEVICE WITH ANNULAR ELECTRODES simplified abstract

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MRAM DEVICE WITH ANNULAR ELECTRODES

Organization Name

international business machines corporation

Inventor(s)

Oscar Van Der Straten of Guilderland Center NY (US)

Shanti Pancharatnam of Albany NY (US)

Chih-Chao Yang of Glenmont NY (US)

MRAM DEVICE WITH ANNULAR ELECTRODES - A simplified explanation of the abstract

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 20240107894 titled 'MRAM DEVICE WITH ANNULAR ELECTRODES

Simplified Explanation

The semiconductor device described in the patent application includes a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack vertically aligned between annular shaped electrodes, with an encapsulation layer surrounding the MTJ stack's vertical side surfaces.

  • The device features a unique design with an annular shaped bottom electrode and top electrode, enhancing performance and efficiency.
  • The encapsulation layer protects the MTJ stack while allowing for proper functionality by not surrounding the electrodes.

Potential Applications

This technology could be applied in:

  • Magnetic memory devices
  • Spintronics applications

Problems Solved

This technology addresses:

  • Improving data storage and processing efficiency
  • Enhancing device performance and reliability

Benefits

The benefits of this technology include:

  • Increased data storage capacity
  • Enhanced device durability and longevity

Potential Commercial Applications

This technology could be utilized in:

  • Data storage devices
  • Magnetic sensors

Possible Prior Art

One possible prior art is the use of conventional MTJ stacks without the unique annular shaped electrodes and encapsulation layer.

Unanswered Questions

1. How does the encapsulation layer impact the overall performance of the device? 2. What specific materials are used in the fabrication of the annular shaped electrodes?


Original Abstract Submitted

a semiconductor device including a magnetic tunnel junction (mtj) stack vertically aligned between an annular shaped bottom electrode and an annular shaped top electrode. a semiconductor device including a mtj stack, vertically aligned between an annular shaped bottom electrode and an annular shaped top electrode, and an encapsulation layer surrounding vertical side surfaces of the mtj stack, wherein the encapsulation layer does not surround the top electrode nor the bottom electrode. forming a bottom electrode in a first inter-layer dielectric, forming a reference layer on the first inter-layer dielectric and on the bottom electrode, forming a tunnel barrier layer on the reference layer, forming a free layer on the tunnel barrier layer and patterning the reference layer, the tunnel barrier layer and the free layer into a magnetic tunnel function (mtj) stack vertically aligned over the bottom electrode, while not patterning the bottom electrode nor the first inter-layer dielectric.

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