Radio-frequency Shot-noise Measurement in a Magnetic Tunnel Junction with a MgO Barrier

Abstract

We measured the noise power of a magnetic tunnel junction in the frequency range of 710 similar to 1200 MHz. A low-noise cryogenic HEMT amplifier was used to measure the small noise signal at a high frequency with wide bandwidth. The MgO-barrier tunnel junction showed large tunnel magnetoresistance ratio of 215% at low temperature, which indicates electronic transport through the tunnel barrier without any significant spin-flip scattering. In the bias-dependent noise measurement, however, the zero-bias shot noise was enhanced compared to the value expected from a perfect tunnel barrier or the value observed from a good Al-AlOx-Al tunnel junction. We assume that this enhanced noise comes from inelastic tunneling processes through the barrier, which may be related to the observed zero-bias anomaly in the differential resistance of the tunnel junctions. We present a simple phenomenological model for how the inelastic scattering process can enhance the zero-bias noise in a tunnel junction.