Information recording and reproducing apparatus

An information recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:

• a first wiring extending in a first direction;
• a second wiring extending in a second direction intersecting the first direction;
• and
• a memory cell arranged at an intersection between the first and second wirings, and including a recording layer operative to change in a reversible manner between a first state and a second state, the first state having a certain resistance value upon application of a voltage pulse supplied via the first and second wirings, and the second state having a resistance value higher than that of the first state,
• the recording layer including a first compound layer represented by a composition formula of AxMyX4 (0.1≦x≦1.2, 2<y≦2.9),
• the A being at least one element selected from a group of Mn (manganese), Fe (iron), Co (cobalt), Ni (nickel), and Cu (copper),
• the M being at least one element selected from a group of Al (aluminum), Ga (gallium), Ti (titanium), Ge (germanium), and Sn (tin), and
• the X being O (oxygen).

An information recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:

• a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of diffusion layers formed on a surface region there of and a channel region formed between the diffusion layers;
• and
• a memory cell having a gate insulation layer formed on the channel region, a recording layer formed on the gate insulation layer, and a control gate electrode formed on the recording layer,
• the memory cell having a recording layer operative to change in a reversible manner between a first state and a second state, the first state having a certain resistance value upon application of voltage, and the second state having a resistance value higher than that of the first state,
• the recording layer including a first compound layer represented by a composition formula of AxMyX4 (0.1≦x≦1.2, 2<y≦2.9),
• the A being at least one element selected from a group of Mn (manganese), Fe (iron), Co (cobalt), Ni (nickel), and Cu (copper),
• the M being at least one element selected from a group of Al (aluminum), Ga (gallium), Ti (titanium), Ge (germanium), and Sn (tin), and
• the X being O (oxygen).