Patent ID: 8921961

Claim:
A method to form a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) having enhanced Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy (PMA), comprising: providing a substrate and depositing thereon a first ferromagnetic layer that is magnetized in a fixed direction, thereby enabling said first ferromagnetic layer to be a reference layer; depositing a tunnel barrier layer onto said reference layer; depositing onto said tunnel barrier layer a magnetic storage layer that induces interfacial anisotropy at its interface with said tunnel barrier layer, thereby inducing PMA within said magnetic storage layer; forming a native oxide layer on, and in contact with, said magnetic storage layer, said native oxide layer resulting from an oxidation of an upper portion of said magnetic storage layer and said native oxide layer, thereby, comprising oxygen and elements present in an upper portion of said magnetic storage layer, thereby inducing additional PMA within said magnetic storage layer; and depositing on said native oxide layer a capping layer of material whose affinity for oxygen is less than that of said native oxide layer.