In a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device having a pinned layer and upper and lower free sublayers, to avoid loss in tunnel magnetoresistance, etching or milling of the free sublayer materials is stopped in the lower free sublayer. The upper free sublayer may be softer and thicker than the lower free sublayer to promote this, and may be doped to reduce its magnetization while maintaining physical thickness. The lower free sublayer can be made of CoFe and the upper free sublayer can made of NiFe and a dopant such as Mo or Rh.