公开(公告)号：US06452764B1

公开(公告)日：2002-09-17

申请号：US09688732

申请日：2000-10-16

申请人： David William Abraham ,  Philip Edward Batson ,  William Joseph Gallagher ,  Stuart Parkin ,  John Slonczewski ,  Philip Louis Trouilloud

发明人： David William Abraham ,  Philip Edward Batson ,  William Joseph Gallagher ,  Stuart Parkin ,  John Slonczewski ,  Philip Louis Trouilloud

IPC分类号： G11B539

CPC分类号： H01L27/224 ,  B82Y10/00 ,  B82Y25/00 ,  G01R33/093 ,  G11B2005/3996 ,  G11C11/15 ,  G11C11/16 ,  H01F10/3254 ,  H01F10/3268 ,  H01F41/325 ,  H01L43/08 ,  H01L43/12

摘要： Magnetoresistive devices are disclosed which include a changeable magnetic region within which at least two magnetic states can be imposed. Upon magnetoresistive electrical interaction with the device, the relative orientation of the magnetic states of the changeable magnetic region, and a proximate reference magnetic region, can be sensed thereby providing a binary data storage capability. The present invention limits the electrical interaction to only a preferred portion of the changeable magnetic region, e.g., the portion within which the two magnetic states can be dependably predicted to be substantially uniform, and opposite of one another. Structures for limiting the electrical interaction to this preferred portion of the changeable magnetic region are disclosed, and include smaller interaction regions, and alternating areas of insulation and conductive, interaction regions, disposed proximate the changeable magnetic region. The principles of the present invention can be applied to magnetic random access memory (“MRAM”) arrays, which employ giant magnetoresistive (“GMR”) cells, or magnetic tunnel junction (“MTJ”) cells, at the intersections of bitlines and wordlines, and also to magnetic sensors such as magnetic data storage devices having access elements used to access data on a magnetic data storage medium.

摘要翻译： 公开了磁阻器件，其包括可以施加至少两个磁状态的可变磁区域。 在与器件进行磁阻电相互作用时，可以感测可变磁区的磁状态和相邻参考磁场的相对取向，从而提供二进制数据存储能力。 本发明将电相互作用仅限于可变磁性区域的优选部分，例如可以可靠地预测两个磁状态基本上均匀且彼此相反的部分。 公开了用于限制与可变磁性区域的该优选部分的电相互作用的结构，并且包括较小的相互作用区域，以及设置在可变磁性区域附近的绝缘和导电的相互作用区域的交替区域。 本发明的原理可以应用于在位线和字线的交点处采用巨磁阻（“GMR”）单元或磁隧道结（“MTJ”）单元的磁随机存取存储器（“MRAM”）阵列 ，还包括具有用于访问磁数据存储介质上的数据的访问元件的诸如磁数据存储设备的磁传感器。

公开(公告)号：US06590750B2

公开(公告)日：2003-07-08

申请号：US09021352

申请日：1998-02-10

申请人： David William Abraham ,  Philip Edward Batson ,  John Slonczewski ,  Philip Louis Trouilloud ,  William Joseph Gallagher ,  Stuart Parkin

发明人： David William Abraham ,  Philip Edward Batson ,  John Slonczewski ,  Philip Louis Trouilloud ,  William Joseph Gallagher ,  Stuart Parkin

IPC分类号： G11B539

CPC分类号： H01L27/224 ,  B82Y10/00 ,  B82Y25/00 ,  G01R33/093 ,  G11B2005/3996 ,  G11C11/15 ,  G11C11/16 ,  H01F10/3254 ,  H01F10/3268 ,  H01F41/325 ,  H01L43/08 ,  H01L43/12

摘要： Magnetoresistive devices are disclosed which include a changeable magnetic region within which at least two magnetic states can be imposed. Upon magnetoresistive electrical interaction with the device, the relative orientation of the magnetic states of the changeable magnetic region, and a proximate reference magnetic region, can be sensed thereby providing a binary data storage capability. The present invention limits the electrical interaction to only a preferred portion of the changeable magnetic region, e.g., the portion within which the two magnetic states can be dependably predicted to be substantially uniform, and opposite of one another. Structures for limiting the electrical interaction to this preferred portion of the changeable magnetic region are disclosed, and include smaller interaction regions, and alternating areas of insulation and conductive, interaction regions, disposed proximate the changeable magnetic region. The principles of the present invention can be applied to magnetic random access memory (“MRAM”) arrays, which employ giant magnetoresistive (“GMR”) cells, or magnetic tunnel junction (“MTJ”) cells, at the intersections of bitlines and wordlines, and also to magnetic sensors such as magnetic data storage devices having access elements used to access data on a magnetic data storage medium.