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The temperature dependence of spin-polarized tunneling is investigated between 77 and 420 K for various ferromagnetic tunnel junctions. Both the junction resistance and the magnetoresistance decrease with increasing temperature T. The experimental results are successfully described by a model that includes two current contributions. The dominant one is elastic, spin-polarized tunneling between the two ferromagnetic electrodes, each with an electron polarization P that decreases with T due to thermally excited spin waves according to P (1-T^3/2), i. e. , in the same way as the surface magnetization. A smaller second conductance is due to assisted, spin-independent tunneling which we find to be proportional to T^1. 350. 15.
Shang et al. (Sat,) studied this question.