title: The effect of the interface oxidation on tunneling conductance of Co(2)MnSi/MgO/Co(2)MnSi magnetic tunnel junction.
abstract: We investigate and discuss the effects of interfacial oxidation on electronic structures and tunnel conductance of the Co(2)MnSi/MgO/Co(2)MnSi(001) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) on the basis of first-principles calculations. It is found that the MnSi termination tends to be oxidized compared with the Co termination because of the relaxation of atomic positions in the MnSi-terminated interface. Furthermore, we found that the single oxide layer inserted on both sides of the junction greatly decreases the tunnel conductance of the MTJ in parallel magnetization. We concluded that the relaxation of the Mn atomic position in the oxidized junction reduces the coupling of the Δ(1) states between the Co(2)MnSi electrode and the MgO barrier and causes significant interfacial scattering of the majority-spin electrons with Δ(1) symmetry at the oxidized layer.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Katahira 2-1-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.forename: Kazutaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Masafumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shirai