  We show that the magnetic characteristics of Ta|CoFeB|MgO magnetic
heterostructures are strongly influenced by doping the Ta underlayer with
nitrogen. In particular, the saturation magnetization drops upon doping the Ta
underlayer, suggesting that the doped underlayer acts as a boron diffusion
barrier. In addition, the thickness of the magnetic dead layer decreases with
increasing nitrogen doping. Surprisingly, the interface magnetic anisotropy
increases to ~1.8 erg/cm2 when an optimum amount of nitrogen is introduced into
the Ta underlayer. These results show that nitrogen doped Ta serves as a good
underlayer for Spintronics applications including magnetic tunnel junctions and
domain wall devices.
