  We study the effect of strain on magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ) induced by a
diamond like carbon (DLC) film. The junction resistance as well as the tunnel
magnetoresistance (TMR) reduces with the DLC film. Non-equilibrium Green's
function quantum transport calculations show that the application of biaxial
strain increases the conductance for both the parallel and anti-parallel
configurations. However, the conductance for the minority channel and for the
anti-parallel configuration is significantly more sensitive to strain, which
drastically increases transmission through a MgO tunnel barrier, therefore, the
TMR ratio decreases with biaxial strain.
