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Magnetic tunnel junctions

Nature Reviews Methods Primers volume 6, Article number: 38 (2026) Cite this article

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Abstract

Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) underpin modern spintronics, enabling the manipulation of electron spin for information storage, sensing and logic applications beyond conventional charge-based electronics. Among them, MgO-based MTJs have become the benchmark for high-performance spintronic devices because their crystalline barriers support coherent spin-dependent tunnelling, producing large tunnelling magnetoresistance at room temperature. This Primer reviews the materials, fabrication methods and characterization techniques that govern the performance of MgO-based MTJs, emphasizing how atomic-scale structural control enables efficient spin transport. We discuss thin-film deposition techniques such as magnetron sputtering and molecular beam epitaxy, MgO barrier formation and post-deposition annealing and lithographic patterning of multilayer stacks. Structural, magnetic and transport characterization methods, including transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, magnetometry and electrical measurements, are discussed to elucidate the correlations between interfacial structure, magnetic anisotropy and tunnelling magnetoresistance. Representative results on crystallinity, magnetic properties and transport behaviour are presented alongside switching mechanisms such as spin-transfer torque, spin–orbit torque and voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy. Emerging directions, including antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions and van der Waals MTJs, are highlighted for their potential to overcome the limitations of conventional materials. We conclude with perspectives on reproducibility, fabrication challenges and future opportunities for ultrafast, non-volatile and energy-efficient MTJ-based technologies.

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Fig. 1: TMR in MTJs.
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Fig. 2: Schematic illustration of the microfabrication process used to fabricate MTJ pillars.
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Fig. 3: Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy images of MTJs.
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Fig. 4: Schematic representation of different switching mechanisms in MTJs.
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Fig. 5: Representative experimental results of MTJ switching by various mechanisms.
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Fig. 6: Schematic of HDD read/write head and MTJ biomagnetic field sensor.
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Fig. 7: MRAM memory cells of various types.
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Fig. 8: Example of a p-MTJ for STT-MRAM.
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Fig. 9: STO and spin-torque diode.
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Acknowledgements

The authors thank B. Dieny, K. Garello, S. Tamaru, D. Worledge and S. Zhang for providing useful information on the specific properties of MTJs. E.Y.T. acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation (awards DMR-2425567 and DMR-2316665). W.W. acknowledges the support from the National Science Foundation (awards ECCS-2230124, DMR-2324203, ECCS-2333882 and DMR-2425567). P.K.A. acknowledges support from the Center for Energy-Efficient Magnonics (CEEMag); an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, under Award number DE-AC02-76SF00515; and from the National Science Foundation (awards CNS-2425538, CCF-2322572, ECCS-2203242 and ECCS-2203243). D.-F.S. acknowledges support from the National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2024YFB3614101), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants nos. 12241405 and 12274411), the Basic Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Based on Major Scientific Infrastructures (grant no. JZHKYPT-2021-08) and the CAS Project for Young Scientists in Basic Research (grant no. YSBR-084).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln & Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, Lincoln, NE, USA

    Evgeny Y. Tsymbal

  2. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Shinji Yuasa

  3. Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

    Shinji Yuasa

  4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Weigang Wang

  5. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Pedram Khalili Amiri

  6. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Cheng Gong

  7. Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Institute of Solid State Physics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, China

    Ding-Fu Shao

Authors
  1. Evgeny Y. Tsymbal
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  2. Shinji Yuasa
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  3. Weigang Wang
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  4. Pedram Khalili Amiri
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  5. Cheng Gong
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  6. Ding-Fu Shao
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Contributions

Introduction (D.-F.S. and E.Y.T.); Experimentation (S.Y., W.W. and P.K.A.); Results (W.W. and E.Y.T.); Applications (S.Y., W.W. and P.K.A.); Reproducibility and data deposition (P.K.A. and E.Y.T.); Limitations and optimizations (S.Y., W.W. and P.K.A.); Outlook (E.Y.T., P.K.A. and C.G.). All authors contributed to the conceptualization, writing and editing of the Primer, with the overall effort led by E.Y.T.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Evgeny Y. Tsymbal.

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Nature Reviews Methods Primers thanks Hao Cai, Jean Anne Incorvia, Jimmy Zhu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Glossary

Antidamping-like torque

A torque component that counteracts Gilbert damping, enabling magnetization procession or switching.

Antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions

(AFMTJs). Magnetic tunnel junctions with antiferromagnetic electrodes.

Bloch states

Quantum states of single electrons in individual periodic crystal lattices characterized by plane waves modulated by lattice-periodic functions.

Cap layer

A thin protective layer deposited on top of a device or film to prevent oxidation, contamination or degradation.

Coherent tunnelling

Quantum tunnelling in which the phase and transverse crystal momentum of electronic states are conserved across the barrier.

Curie temperature

The critical temperature above which a ferromagnet loses its spontaneous magnetization.

d.c. sputtering deposition

A physical vapour deposition technique using direct current (d.c.) plasma to deposit conductive materials.

Damping constant α

A dimensionless parameter that quantifies the strength of Gilbert damping in magnetization dynamics.

Evanescent states

Quantum states of single electrons in tunnel barriers characterized by exponentially decaying wavefunctions.

Exchange stiffness

A material parameter that quantifies the energy cost associated with the spatial variation of magnetization.

Ferromagnetic resonance

(FMR). A spectroscopic technique probing dynamic response of magnetization under microwave excitation.

Field-like torque

A torque component that acts as an effective magnetic field on magnetization.

Free layer

The magnetic layer in a magnetic tunnel junction whose magnetization can be switched between stable states.

Gilbert damping

A phenomenological description of energy dissipation during magnetization dynamics.

Magnetic anisotropy

The directional dependence of magnetic energy that defines preferred magnetization orientations.

Magnetic tunnel junction

(MTJ). Nanoscale device consisting of two magnetic layers separated by an insulating tunnel barrier.

Magnetization precession

Rotational motion of magnetization around an effective magnetic field.

Magnetization switching

The process by which the magnetization of a magnetic element reverses between stable states.

Magnetoresistive random-access memory

(MRAM). A non-volatile memory technology based on magnetic tunnel junctions as storage elements.

Momentum-dependent spin polarization

(MDSP). Spin polarization of electronic states that varies as a function of crystal momentum.

Neuromorphic computing

A computing paradigm that mimics the structure and dynamics of biological neural systems.

Pinned layer

The magnetic layer in a magnetic tunnel junction whose magnetization is fixed by exchange bias or by antiferromagnetic coupling.

Quantum tunnelling

The quantum-mechanical phenomenon in which a particle passes through a classically forbidden potential barrier.

Radio-frequency sputtering deposition

A sputtering method using radio-frequency power, enabling deposition of dielectrics.

Resistance-area product

The resistance-area product of a magnetic tunnel junction characterizing the intrinsic tunnelling resistance, independent of device size.

Spin Hall angle

The ratio of the generated transverse spin current density to the applied longitudinal charge current density.

Spin polarization

The imbalance between spin-up and spin-down electron populations contributing to electric transport.

Spin–orbit torque

(SOT). A torque on magnetization produced by a spin current generated by an in-plane charge current in an adjacent heavy metal layer.

Spin-transfer torque

(STT). A torque exerted on magnetization by a spin-polarized current flowing through a magnetic layer.

Thermal stability factor

(TSF). A dimensionless parameter defined as the ratio of the magnetic energy barrier to the thermal energy, determining data retention reliability.

TMR ratio

The relative change in resistance of a magnetic tunnel junction between antiparallel and parallel magnetization states, defined as \(({R}_{{\rm{AP}}}-{R}_{{\rm{P}}})/{R}_{{\rm{P}}}\).

Tunnelling magnetoresistance

(TMR). The relative change in resistance of a magnetic tunnel junction between parallel and antiparallel magnetic configurations of the electrodes.

Van der Waals magnetic tunnel junctions

(vdW-MTJs). Magnetic tunnel junctions assembled from van der Waals layered materials.

Voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy

(VCMA). The modulation of magnetic anisotropy at a magnetic interface induced by an applied electric field.

Write-error rate

The probability that a memory cell fails to switch to the desired magnetic state during a write operation.

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Tsymbal, E.Y., Yuasa, S., Wang, W. et al. Magnetic tunnel junctions. Nat Rev Methods Primers 6, 38 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-026-00490-7

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