| US 7,596,015 B2 | ||
| Magnetoresistive element and magnetic memory | ||
| Eiji Kitagawa, Sagamihara (Japan); Toshihiko Nagase, Sagamihara (Japan); Masatoshi Yoshikawa, Yokohama (Japan); Katsuya Nishiyama, Yokohama (Japan); Tatsuya Kishi, Yokohama (Japan); and Hiroaki Yoda, Sagamihara (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Aug. 01, 2007, as Appl. No. 11/832,203. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2006-280620 (JP), filed on Oct. 13, 2006. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2008/0088980 A1, Apr. 17, 2008 | ||
| Int. Cl. G11C 11/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 365—158 [365/171; 365/173; 977/935] | 23 Claims |
| 1. A magnetoresistive element comprising:
a free layer which contains a magnetic material and has an fct (face-centered tetragonal) crystal structure with a (001) plane
oriented, the free layer having a magnetization which is perpendicular to a film plane and has a direction to be changeable
by spin-polarized electrons;
a first nonmagnetic layer and a second nonmagnetic layer which sandwich the free layer and have one of a tetragonal crystal
structure and a cubic crystal structure; and
a fixed layer which is provided on only one side of the free layer and on a surface of the first nonmagnetic layer opposite
to a surface with the free layer and contains a magnetic material, the fixed layer having a magnetization which is perpendicular
to a film plane and has a fixed direction.
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