Tetragonal half metallic heusler compounds

A magnetoresistive random-access memory array, comprising:

• a plurality of bit lines and a plurality of complementary bit lines forming a plurality of bit line-complementary bit line pairs;
• a plurality of word lines intersecting said plurality of bit line pairs at a plurality of cell locations;
• and
• a plurality of magnetoresistive random-access memory cells located at each of said plurality of cell locations, each of said magnetoresistive random-access memory cells being electrically connected to a corresponding bit line and selectively interconnected to a corresponding one of said complementary bit lines under control of a corresponding one of said word lines, each of said plurality of magnetoresistive random-access memory cells comprising:
• a templating layer comprising a binary alloy having an alternating layer lattice structure;
• a half metallic Heusler layer comprising a half metallic Heusler material having a tetragonal lattice structure, the half metallic Heusler layer being located over the templating layer, and having a Heusler in-plane lattice constant that is different from an in-plane lattice constant in a cubic form of the half metallic Heusler material;
• a tunnel barrier of located over the half metallic Heusler layer on a side of the half metallic Heusler layer opposite the templating layer;
• and
• a magnetic layer located over the tunnel barrier on a side of the tunnel barrier opposite the half metallic Heusler layer.

A method of operating a magnetoresistive random-access memory array, comprising:

• providing a magnetoresistive random-access memory array, said array comprising:
• a plurality of bit lines and a plurality of complementary bit lines forming a plurality of bit line-complementary bit line pairs;
• a plurality of word lines intersecting said plurality of bit line pairs at a plurality of cell locations;
• and
• a plurality of magnetoresistive random-access memory cells located at each of said plurality of cell locations, each of said magnetoresistive random-access memory cells being electrically connected to a corresponding bit line and selectively interconnected to a corresponding one of said complementary bit lines under control of a corresponding one of said word lines, each of said plurality of magnetoresistive random-access memory cells comprising:
• a templating layer comprising a binary alloy having an alternating layer lattice structure;
• a half metallic Heusler layer comprising a half metallic Heusler material having a tetragonal lattice structure, the half metallic Heusler layer being located outward of over the templating layer, and having a Heusler in-plane lattice constant that is different from an in-plane lattice constant in a cubic form of the half metallic Heusler material;
• a tunnel barrier located over the half metallic Heusler layer on a side of the half metallic Heusler layer opposite the templating layer;
• and
• a magnetic layer located over the tunnel barrier on a side of the tunnel barrier opposite the half metallic Heusler layer;
• applying signals to said word lines to cause a first subset of said cells to store logical ones and a second subset of said cells to store logical zeroes;
• and
• reading said stored logical ones and zeroes via said bit lines and said complementary bit lines.

A method of forming a magnetoresistive random-access memory cell, comprising:

• providing a templating layer comprising a binary alloy having an alternating layer lattice structure and having a templating layer in-plane lattice constant;
• epitaxially growing a half metallic Heusler layer over the templating layer, the half metallic Heusler layer comprising a half metallic Heusler material, the half metallic Heusler layer being grown over the templating layer such that the Heusler material has a tetragonal lattice structure and a Heusler in-plane lattice constant that is different from an in-plane lattice constant in a cubic form of the half metallic Heusler material and which substantially matches the templating layer in-plane lattice constant;
• forming a tunnel barrier over the half metallic Heusler layer, on a side of the half metallic Heusler layer opposite the templating layer;
• and
• forming a magnetic layer over the tunnel barrier, on a side of the tunnel barrier opposite the half metallic Heusler layer.

A hardware description language (HDL) design structure encoded on a machine-readable data storage medium, said HDL design structure comprising elements that when processed in a computer-aided design system generates a machine-executable representation of a magnetoresistive random-access memory cell, wherein said (HDL design structure) comprises:

• a templating layer comprising a binary alloy having an alternating layer lattice structure;
• a half metallic Heusler layer comprising a half metallic Heusler material having a tetragonal lattice structure, the half metallic Heusler layer being located over the templating layer, and having a Heusler in-plane lattice constant that is different from an in-plane lattice constant in a cubic form of the half metallic Heusler material;
• a tunnel barrier located over the half metallic Heusler layer on a side of the half metallic Heusler layer opposite the templating layer;
• and
• a magnetic layer located over the tunnel barrier on a side of the tunnel barrier opposite the half metallic Heusler layer.