Buffer layers and interlayers that promote BiSbx (012) alloy orientation for SOT and MRAM devices

1. A spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device, comprising:

a substrate;

a buffer layer formed over the substrate, the buffer layer comprising:

an amorphous sublayer comprising a material in an amorphous structure, wherein the material comprises a covalently bonded carbide, a covalently bonded oxide, or a covalently bonded nitride, and wherein the material in the amorphous structure has a nearest neighbor XRD diffraction peak with d-spacing equal to about 2.0 Å to about 2.2 Å; and

a bismuth antimony (BiSb) layer formed over the buffer layer, the BiSb layer having a (012) orientation, wherein the buffer layer is configured to reduce migration of Sb in the BiSb layer.

2. The SOT MTJ device of claim 1 , wherein the buffer layer further comprises one or more sublayers in addition to the amorphous sublayer, each of the one or more sublayers comprising one or more materials selected from the group consisting of: a tetragonal (001) material, a tetragonal (110) material, a body-centered cubic (bcc) (100) material, a face-centered cubic (fcc) (100) material, a textured bcc (100) material, a textured fcc (100) material, a textured (100) material, an amorphous metallic material, and a layered combination of one or more of any of the preceding materials.

3. The SOT MTJ device of claim 2 , wherein at least one sublayer of the one or more sublayers comprises the bcc (100) material, the bcc (100) material being selected from the group consisting of: V, Nb, Mo, W, Ta, WTi 50 , Al 10 Nb 40 Ti 50 , Cr, CrMo, CrX where X is Ti, W, Mo, Ru, or RuAl in a B2 phase, and alloy combinations thereof with elements selected from the group consisting of: Ti, Al, Rh, Pd, Pt, Ni, Fe, and Cr.

4. The SOT MTJ device of claim 2 , wherein at least one sublayer of the one or more sublayers comprises the fcc (100) material, the fcc (100) material being selected from the group consisting of: FeO, CoO, ZrO, MgO, TiO, ScN, TiN, NbN, ZrN, HfN, TaN, ScC, TiC, NbC, ZrC, HfC, TaC, WC, CoO, SIC, GaN, FeN, ZnO, MoZr 10 , MoNi 20 , NbZr 20 , and composite combinations thereof with one or more elements selected from the group of: W, Al, and Si.

5. The SOT MTJ device of claim 2 , wherein at least one sublayer of the one or more sublayers comprises the tetragonal (001) or (110) material, the tetragonal (001) or (110) material being selected from the group consisting of: SbO 2 , TiO 2 , IrO 2 , RuO 2 , CrO 2 , VO 2 , OsO 2 , RhO 2 , PdO 2 , WVO 4 , CrNbO 4 , SnO 2 , GeO 2 , ZnNbTi, ZnTiTa, composites thereof, and alloys thereof with elements selected from the group consisting of: W, Ta, and Nb.

6. The SOT MTJ device of claim 5 , wherein the tetragonal (001) or (110) material has an a-axis in the range of about 4.49 Å to about 4.69 Å and a c-axis in the range of about 2.88 Å to about 3.15 Å.

7. The SOT MTJ device of claim 2 , wherein at least one sublayer of the one or more sublayers comprises the amorphous metallic material, the amorphous metallic material being selected from the group consisting of: NiTa, NiFeTa, NiNb, NiW, NiFeW, NiFeHf, CoHfB, CoZrTa, CoFeB, NiFeB, CoB, FeB, and alloy combinations thereof with elements selected from the group consisting of: Ni, Fe, Co, Zr, W, Ta, Hf, Ag, Pt, Pd, Si, Ge, Mn, Al, and Ti.

8. The SOT MTJ device of claim 1 , wherein the nearest neighbor XRD diffraction peak corresponds to a (111) d-spacing from a fcc crystal structure where is a fcc between about 3.5 Å and 3.8 Å.

9. The SOT MTJ device of claim 8 , wherein the nearest neighbor distance is about 2.0 Å to about 2.2 Å.

10. The SOT MTJ device of claim 1 , further comprising an interlayer disposed on the BiSb layer, the interlayer comprising one or more materials selected from the group consisting of: a tetragonal (001) material, a tetragonal (110) material, a body-centered cubic (bcc) (100) material, a face-centered cubic (fcc) (100) material, a textured bcc (100) material, a textured fcc (100) material, a textured (100) material, an amorphous material comprising covalently bonded carbide, oxide, or nitride, an amorphous metallic material, and a layered combination of one or more of any of the preceding materials.

11. A magnetic recording device, comprising:

a spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device, comprising:

a substrate;

a buffer layer formed over the substrate, the buffer layer comprising:

an amorphous sublayer comprising a material in an amorphous structure, wherein the material comprises a covalently bonded carbide, a covalently bonded oxide, or a covalently bonded nitride, and wherein the material in the amorphous structure has a nearest neighbor XRD diffraction peak with d-spacing equal to about 2.0 Å to about 2.2 Å; and

a bismuth antimony (BiSb) layer formed over the buffer layer, the BiSb layer having a (012) orientation, wherein the buffer layer is configured to reduce migration of Sb in the BiSb layer.

12. A magneto-resistive memory, comprising:

a spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device, comprising:

a substrate;

a buffer layer formed over the substrate, the buffer layer comprising:

an amorphous sublayer comprising a material in an amorphous structure, wherein the material comprises a covalently bonded carbide, a covalently bonded oxide, or a covalently bonded nitride, and wherein the material in the amorphous structure has a nearest neighbor XRD diffraction peak with d-spacing equal to about 2.0 Å to about 2.2 Å; and

a bismuth antimony (BiSb) layer formed over the buffer layer, the BiSb layer having a (012) orientation, wherein the buffer layer is configured to reduce migration of Sb in the BiSb layer.

13. A spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device, comprising:

a substrate;

a buffer layer formed on the substrate, the buffer layer comprising:

at least one first intermediary layer, the at least one first intermediary layer comprising at least one of: a tetragonal (001) material, a tetragonal (110) material, a body-centered cubic (bcc) (100) material, a face-centered cubic (fcc) (100) material, a textured bcc (100) material, a textured fcc (100) material, a textured (100) material, or an amorphous material comprising a covalently bonded carbide, a covalently bonded oxide, or a covalently bonded nitride; and

a bismuth antimony (BiSb) layer stack formed over the buffer layer comprising a BiSb layer having a (012) orientation, wherein the BiSb layer stack further comprises:

a first Bi layer, wherein the BiSb layer is disposed on the first Bi layer, and

a second Bi layer disposed on the BiSb layer,

wherein the first and second Bi layers:

each has a thickness greater than about 0 Å and less than about 10 Å, and

sandwich the BiSb layer to promote a (012) BiSb texture and serve as Sb composition modulations layers configured to improve a chemical uniformity and structure of the BiSb layer degraded by Sb migration.

14. The SOT MTJ device of claim 13 , wherein the buffer layer further comprises an amorphous layer disposed below the first intermediary layer, the amorphous layer comprising a material selected from the group consisting of: NiTa, NiFeTa, NiNb, NiW, NiFeW, NiFeHf, CoHfB, CoZrTa, CoFeB, NiFeB, CoB, FeB, and alloy combinations thereof with elements selected from the group consisting of: Ni, Fe, Co, Zr, W, Ta, Hf, Ag, Pt, Pd, Si, Ge, Mn, Al, and Ti.

15. The SOT MTJ device of claim 14 , wherein the buffer layer further comprises at least one second intermediary layer.

16. The SOT MTJ device of claim 15 , wherein the at least one second intermediary layer is a textured bcc (100) material.

17. The SOT MTJ device of claim 15 , wherein the at least one second intermediary layer is a textured fcc (100) material.

18. The SOT MTJ device of claim 13 , further comprising an interlayer disposed on the BiSb layer, the interlayer comprising a same material as the at least one first intermediary layer.

19. The SOT MTJ device of claim 13 , wherein the first and second Bi layers each has a width of about 0 Å to about 10 Å.

20. The SOT MTJ device of claim 13 , wherein the at least one first intermediary layer comprises the tetragonal (001) or (110) material, the tetragonal (001) or (110) material having an a-axis lattice parameter in the range of about 4.18 Å to about 4.75 Å.

21. The SOT MTJ device of claim 13 , wherein the at least one first intermediary layer comprises the fcc (100) material, the fcc (100) material having a lattice parameter in the range of about 4.18 Å to about 4.75 Å.

22. A magnetic recording device, comprising: the

a spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device, comprising:

a substrate;

a buffer layer formed on the substrate, the buffer layer comprising:

at least one first intermediary layer, the at least one first intermediary layer comprising at least one of: a tetragonal (001) material, a tetragonal (110) material, a body-centered cubic (bcc) (100) material, a face-centered cubic (fcc) (100) material, a textured bcc (100) material, a textured fcc (100) material, a textured (100) material, or an amorphous material comprising a covalently bonded carbide, a covalently bonded oxide, or a covalently bonded nitride; and

a bismuth antimony (BiSb) layer stack formed over the buffer layer comprising a BiSb layer having a (012) orientation, wherein the BiSb layer stack further comprises:

a first Bi layer, wherein the BiSb layer is disposed on the first Bi layer, and

a second Bi layer disposed on the BiSb layer,

wherein the first and second Bi layers:

each has a thickness greater than about 0 Å and less than about 10 Å, and

sandwich the BiSb layer to promote a (012) BiSb texture and serve as Sb composition modulations layers configured to improve a chemical uniformity and structure of the BiSb layer degraded by Sb migration.

23. A magneto-resistive memory, comprising:

a spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device, comprising:

a substrate;

a buffer layer formed on the substrate, the buffer layer comprising:

at least one first intermediary layer, the at least one first intermediary layer comprising at least one of: a tetragonal (001) material, a tetragonal (110) material, a body-centered cubic (bcc) (100) material, a face-centered cubic (fcc) (100) material, a textured bcc (100) material, a textured fcc (100) material, a textured (100) material, or an amorphous material comprising a covalently bonded carbide, a covalently bonded oxide, or a covalently bonded nitride; and

a bismuth antimony (BiSb) layer stack formed over the buffer layer comprising a BiSb layer having a (012) orientation, wherein the BiSb layer stack further comprises:

a first Bi layer, wherein the BiSb layer is disposed on the first Bi layer, and

a second Bi layer disposed on the BiSb layer,

wherein the first and second Bi layers:

each has a thickness greater than about 0 Å and less than about 10 Å, and

sandwich the BiSb layer to promote a (012) BiSb texture and serve as Sb composition modulations layers configured to improve a chemical uniformity and structure of the BiSb layer degraded by Sb migration.

24. A spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device, comprising:

a substrate;

a buffer layer formed over the substrate, the buffer layer comprising:

a textured layer with a (100) orientation; and

a first intermediary layer disposed over the textured layer, the first intermediary layer comprising at least one of a cubic crystal structure selected from the group consisting of tetragonal (001), tetragonal (110), body-centered cubic (bcc) (100), face-centered cubic (fcc) (100), textured bcc (100), and textured fcc (100);

a bismuth antimony (BiSb) layer formed over the buffer layer, the BiSb layer having a (012) orientation, wherein the buffer layer is configured to reduce diffusion of Sb in the BiSb layer; and

an interlayer disposed on the BiSb layer.

25. The SOT MTJ device of claim 24 , wherein the buffer layer further comprises an amorphous layer comprising a material selected from the group consisting of: NiTa, NiFeTa, NiNb, NiW, NiFeW, NiFeHf, CoHfB, CoZrTa, CoFeB, NiFeB, CoB, FeB, and alloy combinations thereof with elements selected from the group consisting of: Ni, Fe, Co, Zr, W, Ta, Hf, Ag, Pt, Pd, Si, Ge, Mn, Al, and Ti.

26. The SOT MTJ device of claim 25 , wherein the amorphous layer is disposed over the substrate, the textured layer is disposed on the amorphous layer, the first intermediary layer is disposed on the textured layer, and the BiSb layer is disposed on the first intermediary layer.

27. The SOT MTJ device of claim 24 , wherein the buffer layer further comprises one or more second intermediary layers, the one or more second intermediary layers having a cubic crystal structure different than the first intermediary layer.

28. The SOT MTJ device of claim 24 , wherein the interlayer comprises one or more materials selected from the group consisting of: a tetragonal (001) material, a tetragonal (110) material, a body-centered cubic (bcc) (100) material, a face-centered cubic (fcc) (100) material, a textured bcc (100) material, a textured fcc (100) material, a textured (100) material, an amorphous material comprising a covalently bonded carbide, a covalently bonded oxide, or a covalently bonded nitride, an amorphous metallic material, and a layered combination of one or more of any of the preceding materials.

29. The SOT MTJ device of claim 24 , wherein the textured layer is selected from the group consisting of:

RuAl, and

Cr:

deposited at a temperature of about 250° C. or greater,

in heated CrX alloys where X is Ru, Mo, W, or Ti in less than about 10 atomic percent, the CrX alloys being heated to a temperature less than or equal to about 200° C.,

as CrMo n where n is about 20 atomic percent to about 50 atomic percent, or

in a sandwich of heated Cr and CrMo n or CrMo n , Cr, and CrMo n where n is about 20 atomic percent to about 50 atomic percent.

30. The SOT MTJ device of claim 24 , wherein the first intermediary layer comprises the tetragonal (001) or (110) material, the tetragonal (001) or (110) material being ruthenium (IV) oxide (RuO 2 ).

31. A magnetic recording device, comprising:

a spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device, comprising:

a substrate;

a buffer layer formed over the substrate, the buffer layer comprising:

a textured layer with a (100) orientation; and

a first intermediary layer disposed over the textured layer, the first intermediary layer comprising at least one of a cubic crystal structure selected from the group consisting of tetragonal (001), tetragonal (110), body-centered cubic (bcc) (100), face-centered cubic (fcc) (100), textured bcc (100), and textured fcc (100);

a bismuth antimony (BiSb) layer formed over the buffer layer, the BiSb layer having a (012) orientation, wherein the buffer layer is configured to reduce diffusion of Sb in the BiSb layer; and

an interlayer disposed on the BiSb layer.

32. A magneto-resistive memory, comprising:

a spin-orbit torque (SOT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device, comprising:

a substrate;

a buffer layer formed over the substrate, the buffer layer comprising:

a textured layer with a (100) orientation; and

a first intermediary layer disposed over the textured layer, the first intermediary layer comprising at least one of a cubic crystal structure selected from the group consisting of tetragonal (001), tetragonal (110), body-centered cubic (bcc) (100), face-centered cubic (fcc) (100), textured bcc (100), and textured fcc (100);

a bismuth antimony (BiSb) layer formed over the buffer layer, the BiSb layer having a (012) orientation, wherein the buffer layer is configured to reduce diffusion of Sb in the BiSb layer; and

an interlayer disposed on the BiSb layer.