Semiconductor structure including a magnetic tunnel junction

摘要

High quality epitaxial layers of ferromagnetic materials can be grown overlying large silicon wafers (22) by first growing an accommodating buffer layer (24) on a silicon wafer. The accommodating buffer layer is a layer of monocrystalline oxide spaced apart from the silicon wafer by an amorphous interface layer (28) of silicon oxide. The amorphous interface layer dissipates strain and permits the growth of a high quality monocrystalline oxide accommodating buffer layer. Any lattice mismatch between the accommodating buffer layer and the underlying silicon substrate is taken care of by the amorphous interface layer. This technique permits the fabrication of devices (96) employing ferromagnetic materials on a monocrystalline semiconductor substrate. In particular, magnetic tunnel junction devices may be fabricated on silicon in accordance with this technique.