Spin filtering effects in monocristalline Fe/MgO/Fe magnetic tunnel junctions

Single-crystal magnetic tunnel junctions employing bcc (1 0 0) Fe electrodes and MgO(1 0 0) insulating barrier are elaborated by molecular beam epitaxy. Two extreme regimes have been investigated. First, for extremely thin MgO thickness we show that the equilibrium tunnel transport in Fe/MgO/Fe systems leads to antiferromagnetic interactions, mediated by the tunneling of the minority spin interfacial resonance state. Second, for large MgO barrier thickness, the tunnel transport validates specific spin filtering effect in terms of symmetry of the electronic Bloch function and symmetry-dependent wave function attenuation in the single-crystal barrier. Within this framework, we present giant tunnel magnetoresistive effects at room temperature (125–150%). Moreover, we illustrate that the interfacial chemical and electronic structure plays a crucial role in the filtering. We show that the insertion of carbon impurities at the Fe/MgO interface changes radically the voltage response of the tunnel magnetoresistance. Moreover, we provide experimental evidence for the electronic interfacial resonance states contribution to the spin polarized tunnel transport.