Conductivity Discontinuity in Type of Current-Perpendicular-to-Plane Nanometer Device

The electron conduction through paths of nanometer size in a current-perpendicular-to-plane device is studied. The model of a free electron confined to the square well potential is proposed. The model leads a conductivity discontinuity and a peak of the current spectrum, d 2 i/dV 2 . Several peaks a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on magnetics 2011-10, Vol.47 (10), p.3132-3134
Main Authors: Shiiki, Kazuo, Horikiri, Kouhei, Takeuchi, Isao, Ono, Souichi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conductivity
Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science
rheology
Exact sciences and technology
Giant magneto-resistance
Junctions
Magnetic recording
Magnetic tunneling
Magnetization
magneto-electronics
Materials science
Methods of deposition of films and coatings
film growth and epitaxy
Other topics in materials science
Physics
thin film devices
tunneling magneto-resistance
Voltage measurement
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Description
Summary:The electron conduction through paths of nanometer size in a current-perpendicular-to-plane device is studied. The model of a free electron confined to the square well potential is proposed. The model leads a conductivity discontinuity and a peak of the current spectrum, d 2 i/dV 2 . Several peaks are observed in the current spectra of a CPP-GMR device with current screen layer, of which size of the current path observed by the conductive-AFM is about 6 nm. The peak voltage is on the same level with the estimated value by the model, although the magnetic behavior cannot be understood. There exist several peaks in the current spectra of a tunneling junction broken by an excessive pulse voltage. It is estimated from the model that the size of the pinhole caused by the breakdown is about 1 nm.
ISSN:0018-9464
1941-0069
DOI:10.1109/TMAG.2011.2152369