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AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorsJun Liu, Gurtej Sandhu
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A magnetic memory cell including a soft magnetic layer and a coupling layer, and methods of operating the memory cell are provided. The memory cell includes a stack with a free ferromagnetic layer and a pinned ferromagnetic layer, and a soft magnetic layer and a coupling layer may also be formed as layers in the stack. The coupling layer may cause antiferromagnetic coupling to induce the free ferromagnetic layer to be magnetized in a direction antiparallel to the magnetization of the soft magnetic layer, or the coupling layer may cause ferromagnetic coupling to induce the free ferromagnetic layer to be magnetized in a direction parallel to the magnetization of the soft magnetic layer. The coupling layer, through a coupling effect, reduces the critical switching current of the memory cell.
A memory cell comprising:
A memory cell comprising:
A method of operating a memory cell comprising a free layer, a coupling layer and a soft magnetic layer, the method comprising:
The method, as set forth in 28, wherein inducing an antiferromagnetic coupling effect in the memory cell comprises directing a programming current through a bit line of the memory cell to induce a magnetization in a soft magnetic layer of the memory cell.
The method, as set forth in 28, wherein inducing an antiferromagnetic coupling effect comprises generating a magnetic field to magnetize a soft magnetic layer of the memory cell.
The method, as set forth in 29, wherein directing the programming current in a first direction programs the memory cell to a low resistance state, and directing the programming current in a second direction programs the memory cell to a high resistance state.
The method, as set forth in 28, wherein programming the memory cell comprises directing a programming current such that a spin torque of electrons in the programming current directs the magnetization of the free ferromagnetic layer to the direction antiparallel to the magnetization of the soft magnetic layer.
The method, as set forth in 34, wherein inducing the ferromagnetic coupling effect comprises directing a magnetization of the free ferromagnetic layer of the memory cell to a direction parallel to the soft magnetic layer of the memory cell.
The method, as set forth in 35, wherein programming the memory cell comprises directing a programming current such that a spin torque of electrons in the programming current directs the magnetization of the free ferromagnetic layer to the direction parallel to the magnetization of the soft magnetic layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.