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Updated: Mar 7, 2026

Advanced Experimental Methods for Low-temperature Magnetotransport Measurement of Novel Materials
Published on: January 21, 2016
Magnetic tunnel junctions with integrated thermometers for magnetothermopower measurements
T Böhnert1, S Serrano-Guisan1, E Paz1
1INL-International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Av. Mestre José Veiga s/n, Braga 4715-330, Portugal.
Abstract:
Magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) micropillars were fabricated with integrated thermometers and a heater line (HL) for thermovoltage measurements. This novel thermometer configuration enabled a direct measurement of ΔT across the MTJ micropillar. The MTJ devices were patterned from a CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB stack, with a 1.2 nm to 1.6 nm MgO wedge across the wafer, resulting in resistance area products in the range of 0.7 kΩ · µm2 < R × A < 55 kΩ · µm2. This allowed the measurement of thermoelectric properties as a function of the tunnel barrier thickness. The thermometers showed a homogeneous heating behavior for all devices across the wafer. Combining the in-stack temperature measurements and finite element simulations the thermal profile across the MTJ structure and the thermopower were estimated with a noticeable improvement of the measurement accuracy. The studied MTJ structures showed tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) ratios up to 125%, and tunneling magnetothermopower (TMTP) up to 35%.
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