Spin-Polarized Magnetic Metal Electrodes for Magnetic Tunnel Junctions
Abstract
Magnetic tunnel junctions are foundational components of spintronic memory, sensing, and computing, and their performance depends critically on the magnetic metallic electrodes. This Perspective examines electrode materials through the lens of magnetic order and the distinct microscopic mechanisms that generate spin-selective tunneling. Conventional ferromagnets, including CoFeB and half-metallic Heusler alloys, support exchange-split electronic states and symmetry-filtered tunneling, whereas compensated collinear and noncollinear antiferromagnets exploit sublattice selectivity, spin-orbit anisotropy, vector spin textures, and magnetic multipoles. Altermagnets provide a collinear, zero-net-moment route based on symmetry-allowed momentum-dependent spin splitting. Across these material classes, we compare the origins of tunneling polarization, the roles of barrier evanescent states and interface termination, and strategies for electrically writing and reading the relevant magnetic order. This comparison reveals a broader design principle: effective electrode polarization is not a scalar bulk quantity, but a momentum-, orbital-, symmetry-, and interface-resolved transport property. Beyond the pursuit of ever larger tunneling magnetoresistance, future progress will depend on converting the unconventional spin polarization of emerging magnetic metals into electrically addressable, thermally robust, and reproducible tunneling functionality at realistic interfaces.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{duan2026spinpolarized,
title = {{Spin-Polarized Magnetic Metal Electrodes for Magnetic Tunnel Junctions}},
author = {Zhiyuan Duan and Peixin Qin and Li Liu and Guojian Zhao and Sixu Jiang and Xiaoyang Tan and Jingyu Li and Xiaoning Wang and Ziang Meng and Zhiqi Liu},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.29857},
eprint = {2609.29857},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.29857},
note = {CC0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Spin-Polarized Magnetic Metal Electrodes for Magnetic Tunnel Junctions
AU - Zhiyuan Duan
AU - Peixin Qin
AU - Li Liu
AU - Guojian Zhao
AU - Sixu Jiang
AU - Xiaoyang Tan
AU - Jingyu Li
AU - Xiaoning Wang
AU - Ziang Meng
AU - Zhiqi Liu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/24
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.29857
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.29857
AB - Magnetic tunnel junctions are foundational components of spintronic memory, sensing, and computing, and their performance depends critically on the magnetic metallic electrodes. This Perspective examines electrode materials through the lens of magnetic order and the distinct microscopic mechanisms that generate spin-selective tunneling. Conventional ferromagnets, including CoFeB and half-metallic Heusler alloys, support exchange-split electronic states and symmetry-filtered tunneling, whereas compensated collinear and noncollinear antiferromagnets exploit sublattice selectivity, spin-orbit anisotropy, vector spin textures, and magnetic multipoles. Altermagnets provide a collinear, zero-net-moment route based on symmetry-allowed momentum-dependent spin splitting. Across these material classes, we compare the origins of tunneling polarization, the roles of barrier evanescent states and interface termination, and strategies for electrically writing and reading the relevant magnetic order. This comparison reveals a broader design principle: effective electrode polarization is not a scalar bulk quantity, but a momentum-, orbital-, symmetry-, and interface-resolved transport property. Beyond the pursuit of ever larger tunneling magnetoresistance, future progress will depend on converting the unconventional spin polarization of emerging magnetic metals into electrically addressable, thermally robust, and reproducible tunneling functionality at realistic interfaces.
ER -