Patent ID: 7238979

Claim:
A magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) device in an MRAM configuration comprising: a substrate having a substantially planar upper surface; a bottom conductor lead layer formed on said substrate, said bottom conductor layer formed of substantially planar layers and further comprising: a crystalline growth enhancing seed layer formed on said substrate; a non-magnetic metal layer formed on said seed layer, said metal having its crystal plane aligned by said seed layer parallel to the plane of said metal layer; a Ta overlayer formed on said metal layer, an upper surface said Ta layer being sputter-etched and rendered amorphous; a NiCr seed layer formed on said sputter-etched Ta layer; a pinning layer of antiferromagnetic material formed on said seed layer; a synthetic pinned layer formed on said pinning layer; a smooth, uniform, ultra-thin layer of in-situ radical oxidized (ROX) Al formed as a barrier layer on said pinned layer; a ferromagnetic free layer formed on said barrier layer; a capping layer and upper conducting lead layer formed on said MTJ layer.