Patent ID: 7211447

Claim:
A method of forming a high performance MTJ element in an MRAM structure, comprising: (a) providing a substrate with a bottom conductor formed thereon, said bottom conductor has a configuration wherein a seed layer, conductor, and capping layer are consecutively formed on said substrate; (b) loading said substrate in a load-lock chamber of a sputter deposition tool; (c) transferring said substrate to a sputter etch chamber where a sputter etch or ion milling process is performed to form an amorphous-like surface on the capping layer; (d) performing a surface treatment in a transient vacuum chamber in said sputter deposition tool; said surface treatment comprises self-annealing and forms a surfactant layer on the surface of said capping layer; and (e) forming an MTJ stack of layers on said surfactant layer at a certain pressure in a sputter deposition chamber in said sputter deposition tool.