Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) consisting of CoFe and NiFe as ferromagnetic electrodes and MgO as insulating barrier fabricated through in situ shadow masking employing ion beam sputtering are studied for their tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) and temperature dependence of the tunneling conductance behavior. The tunneling characteristics of these Mills exhibited barrier height of 0.7 eV and width of 3.3 nm. These MTJs possessed similar to 12% TMR at 60 K. The temperature dependence of conductance behavior of these junctions have revealed finite contributions from inelastic tunneling through the barrier via hopping conduction via present localized states which arise due to the presence of ionic interstitial defects in the MgO oxide barrier. The fitting of the data reveals that thirteenth order of hopping conduction is operative through MgO barrier. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.