Materials Research Science and Engineering Center

 

Date of this Version

May 2003

Comments

Published in Physical Review Letters VOLUME 90, NUMBER 18. Copyright 2003 The American Physical Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

Resonant tunneling via localized states in the barrier can invert magnetoresistance in magnetic tunnel junctions. Experiments performed on electrodeposited Ni/NiO/Co nanojunctions of area smaller than 0.01 μm2 show that both positive and negative values of magnetoresistance are possible. Calculations based on Landauer-Bu¨ttiker theory explain this behavior in terms of disorder-driven statistical variations in magnetoresistance with a finite probability of inversion due to resonant tunneling.