Patent ID: 7443639

Claim:
A magnetic tunnel junction, comprising: a first layer of magnetic material selected from the group of materials consisting of ferromagnetic materials and ferrimagnetic materials; a second layer of magnetic material selected from the group of materials consisting of ferromagnetic materials and ferrimagnetic materials; and a bilayer of respective tunnel barriers, the bilayer being sandwiched between the first and second magnetic layers, so that the first layer, the bilayer, and the second layer form a magnetic tunnel junction, wherein: the bilayer includes i) a layer of amorphous Al 2 O 3 that forms a first tunnel baffler and ii) a layer of crystalline material that forms a second tunnel barrier, the crystalline material including MgO that is (100) or (111) oriented, and the tunnel barriers and the magnetic layers form a magnetic tunnel junction having a tunneling magnetoresistance of at least 100% at room temperature.