Comparison of Synthetic Antiferromagnets and Hard Ferromagnets as Reference Layer in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions With Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy

In magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ), synthetic antiferromagnets (SAF) are usually used as reference layer to minimize dipolar interactions induced between this layer and the free layer (FL). We show here that the use of SAF allows us to reduce the asymmetry of the FL reversal due to stray fields in nanosized MTJs with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.