Perpendicular MTJ element having a cube-textured reference layer and methods of making the same
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The invention comprises a method of forming a novel magnetic pinning structure having a (100) textured or cube-textured reference layer through a non-epitaxial texturing approach so that an excellent coherent tunneling effect is achieved in a pMTJ element due to its texture structure of CoFe BCC (100)/MgO rocksalt (100)/CoFe BCC (100). Correspondingly, a high MR ratio and a high pinning strength on the reference layer can be achieved for perpendicular spin-transfer-torque magnetic-random-access memory (pSTT-MRAM) using perpendicular magnetoresistive elements as basic memory cells which potentially replace the conventional semiconductor memory used in electronic chips, especially mobile chips for power saving and non-volatility.