HOME > Profile > SUKEGAWA, Hiroaki
- Address
- 305-0047 1-2-1 Sengen Tsukuba Ibaraki JAPAN [Access]
Accepting Students
- Associate professor, Subprogram in Materials Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Technology, University of Tsukuba (NIMS Joint Graduate School)
- Associate professor, Subprogram in Applied Physics, Graduate School of Science and Technology, University of Tsukuba (NIMS Joint Graduate School)
Research
- Keywords
スピントロニクス,ホイスラー合金,ハーフメタル
PublicationsNIMS affiliated publications since 2004.
Research papers
- Cong He, Zhenchao Wen, Jun Okabayashi, Yoshio Miura, Tianyi Ma, Tadakatsu Ohkubo, Takeshi Seki, Hiroaki Sukegawa, Seiji Mitani. Evidence for single variant in altermagnetic RuO2(101) thin films. Nature Communications. 16 [1] (2025) 8235 10.1038/s41467-025-63344-y Open Access
- Rombang Rizky Sihombing, Thomas Scheike, Jun Uzuhashi, Hideyuki Yasufuku, Tadakatsu Ohkubo, Zhenchao Wen, Seiji Mitani, Hiroaki Sukegawa. High entropy oxide epitaxial films with interface perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and tunnel magnetoresistance effect toward spintronic applications. Materials Today. 88 (2025) 12-23 10.1016/j.mattod.2025.06.025 Open Access
- Thomas Scheike, Zhenchao Wen, Hiroaki Sukegawa, Seiji Mitani. 631% room temperature tunnel magnetoresistance with large oscillation effect in CoFe/MgO/CoFe(001) junctions. Applied Physics Letters. 122 [11] (2023) 112404 10.1063/5.0145873 Open Access
Books
- 介川 裕章, 山口 明啓. Chapter 2 Synthesis and processing. Elsevier, 2021, 11.
- INOMATA, Kouichiro, SUKEGAWA, Hiroaki. Co2Fe(Al1-xSix) Heusler Alloys and Their Applications to Spintronics. Spintronics From Materials to Devices, edited by Claudia Felser and Gerd H Fecher (Springer, April 12, 2013), Chapter. 14. , 2013, 303-330.
Proceedings
- 介川 裕章. スピネル系トンネルバリアのスピントロニクス素子応用. 応用物理学会応用電子物性分科会会誌. (2016) 118-124
- 介川 裕章, 猪俣 浩一郎, 三谷 誠司. 完全格子整合した磁気トンネル接合の巨大トンネル磁気抵抗効果 〜スピネルMgAl2O4系バリアの現状〜. 信学技報 (ISSN0913-5685). (2013) 35-40
- KODAMA Kouta, FURUBAYASHI, Takao, SUKEGAWA, Hiroaki, NAKATANI Tomoya, INOMATA, Kouichiro, HONO, Kazuhiro. Current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance of a spin valve using Co2MnSi Heusler alloy electrodes. JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS. (2009) 07E905-1-07E905-3
Presentations
- 介川裕章. スピネル系トンネルバリアのスピントロニクス素子応用. 応用電子物性分科会・スピントロニクス研究会 共催研究会. 2016 Invited
- SUKEGAWA, Hiroaki. From MgO to High-Entropy Oxides: A Nanostructural and Material Revolution in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions. 3rd Edition of Symposium on Magnetism and Spintronics (SMS-3). 2026 Invited
- SUKEGAWA, Hiroaki. Progress in magnetic tunnel junctions with giant tunnel magnetoresistance for spintronic applications. International Conference on Materials and Systems for Sustainability 2025 (ICMaSS 2025) . 2025 Invited
Misc
- 介川 裕章. スピネル系トンネルバリアのスピントロニクス素子応用. 応用物理学会応用電子物性分科会会誌. (2016) 118-124
- 介川 裕章, 猪俣 浩一郎, 三谷 誠司. 完全格子整合した磁気トンネル接合の巨大トンネル磁気抵抗効果 〜スピネルMgAl2O4系バリアの現状〜. 信学技報 (ISSN0913-5685). (2013) 35-40
- 介川 裕章. スピントロニクス材料の設計と開発. 技術総合誌OHM(株式会社オーム社)ISSN0386-5576. 99 [1] (2012) 21-24
Published patent applications
Society memberships
日本磁気学会, 応用物理学会, 日本金属学会, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Research Center for Magnetic and Spintronic Materials
Giant Tunnel Magnetoresistance Effect Exceeding 630% at Room Temperature
Tunnel Magnetoresistance Device, TMR, MRAM, Magnetic Sensor
Overview
Tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) devices (or magnetic tunnel junctions, MTJs) using magnetic thin films are used in hard disk drive (HDD) read heads and as memory bits in magnetoresistive random access memories (MRAMs), a type of non-volatile memory. A TMR device is one in which the electrical resistance of an ultrathin barrier sandwiched between magnetic layers changes; the greater this resistance change (TMR ratio) at room temperature (RT), the easier it is to achieve high device performance. However, since the report of a 604% RT-TMR ratio in 2008, no further improvements in the TMR ratio had been achieved, even in laboratory demonstrations, and significant progress in the short term did not appear likely. Therefore, by utilizing the latest magnetic thin-film fabrication technologies and refocusing efforts on improving the crystal quality at the interface between the magnetic layer and the barrier layer of the TMR device, we aimed to achieve a TMR ratio at RT higher than previous values.
Novelty and originality
● Establishment of a method for fabricating high-quality single-crystal films (epitaxial growth)
● Setting a new record for the room-temperature tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio
● Observation of a giant TMR ratio oscillation phenomenon
Details
We achieved an improvement in the TMR ratio at RT by precisely controlling the interface between the magnetic layer and barrier of a tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) device. Specifically, as shown in the figure on the left, we fabricated thin-film devices using epitaxial growth techniques to enhance their quality. By improving the crystallinity of the interfaces at the atomic scale, such as by inserting a ultra-thin magnesium layer at the lower barrier interface and additional oxidation process at the upper barrier interface, we succeeded in realizing a single-crystal device with sharp interfaces on both the upper and lower sides. As a result, we achieved a TMR ratio of up to 631% at RT, setting a new world record for the first time in 15 years (see figure on the right). Furthermore, we clearly observed a phenomenon in which the TMR ratio oscillate periodically as a function of the barrier thickness (TMR oscillation), and found that the oscillation amplitude is as large as 141% (previously, a few percent to several tens of percent). By investigating the mechanism of this oscillation phenomenon and clarifying its relationship with the TMR ratio, we expect to achieve even higher TMR ratios at RT. The demonstration of this high RT TMR ratio is expected to lead not only to applications in high-sensitivity magnetic sensors, but also to its use in new memory technologies that would have been difficult to achieve with conventional TMR ratio levels.
Summary
● Establishment of a method for fabricating high-quality single-crystal films (epitaxial growth)
● Setting a new record for the room-temperature tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio
● Observation of a giant TMR ratio oscillation phenomenon



