Low remanence flux concentrator for MRAM devices

A memory cell, comprising:

• a magnetic memory element;
• a flux concentrator operably positioned proximate to a conductor to provide a current-induced magnetic flux to the magnetic memory element;
• and
• a Ferromagnet, AntiFerromagnet, and Ferromagnet (FM/AFM/FM) pinning structure operably positioned proximate to the flux concentrator to provide an anisotropic field in the flux concentrator with an easy axis of magnetization aligned with the conductor and with magnitude to cause magnetic moments in the flux concentrator change through rotation rather than through domain wall motion.

A memory system, comprising:

• a plurality of parallel bit line conductors aligned in a first direction in a first plane and a plurality of parallel word line conductors aligned in a second direction in a second plane, the first and second directions being orthogonal;
• a plurality of magnetic memory elements, each memory element being operably positioned between and at a cross point of one of the bit line conductors and one of the word line conductors;
• a word line control circuit connected to the word line conductors and a bit line control circuit connected to the bit line conductors, the word line and bit line control circuits being adapted to cooperate to energize a selected one of the word lines and a selected one of the bit lines to cause a current-induced magnetic field to write data to a selected one of the memory storage elements;
• and
• each of the bit line conductors and the word line conductors including a flux concentrator, the flux concentrator including an anisotropic field with an easy axis of magnetization aligned with a corresponding conductor and with a magnitude to cause magnetic moments in the flux concentrator to change through rotation rather than through domain wall motion.

A memory system, comprising:

• a plurality of parallel bit line conductors aligned in a first direction in a first plane and a plurality of parallel word line conductors aligned in a second direction in a second plane, the first and second directions being orthogonal;
• a plurality of magnetic memory elements, each memory element being operably positioned between and at a cross point of one of the bit line conductors and one of the word line conductors;
• a word line control circuit connected to the word line conductors and a bit line control circuit connected to the bit line conductors, the word line and bit line control circuits being adapted to cooperate to energize a selected one of the word lines and a selected one of the bit lines to cause a current-induced magnetic field to write data to a selected one of the memory storage elements;
• and
• each of the bit line conductors and the word line conductors including a flux concentrator, and a Ferromagnet, AntiFerromagnet, and Ferromagnet (FM/AFM/FM) pinning structure to provide the flux concentrator with an anisotropic field having an easy axis of magnetization aligned with a corresponding conductor and having a magnitude on the order of 100 Oe to cause magnetic moments in the flux concentrator to change through rotation rather than through domain wall motion.