Magnetic storage device

• US 10,460,783 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2018
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kioxia Corporation
• Original Assignee: Toshiba Memory Corporation (Kioxia Corporation)
• Inventors: Ueda, Yoshihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tan T.
• Application Number:
  US16/114,162
• Publication Number:
  US 20190287593A1
• Time in Patent Office: 428 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/161 details concerning the memory cell structure, e.g. the layers of the ferromagnetic memory cell
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/1653 Address circuits or decoders
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/1655 Bit-line or column circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/1657 Word-line or row circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/1659 Cell access
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/1673 Reading or sensing circuits or methods
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/1675 Writing or programming circuits or methods
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 13/0002 using resistive RAM [RRAM] elements
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 19/0841 using electric current
• CPC Class Codes: H10B 61/00 Magnetic memory devices, e.g. magnetoresistive RAM [MRAM] devices
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 50/10 Magnetoresistive devices

Abstract

A magnetic storage device includes a magnetic storage thin line including a linear magnetic body having first and second magnetic domains whose magnetization directions are variable, a magnetoresistance effect element having a first resistance according to the magnetization direction of the first magnetic domain or a second resistance according to the magnetization direction of the second magnetic domain, and a read circuit that compares the first resistance of the magnetoresistance effect element with the second resistance of the magnetoresistance effect element. The read circuit outputs first data when the first resistance and the second resistance correspond to the same low or high resistance state and outputs second data when the first resistance and the second resistance correspond to different low/high resistance states.

Claims

1. A magnetic storage device comprising:

a magnetic wire including a linear magnetic body having first and second magnetic domains whose magnetization directions are variable;

a magnetoresistance element having a first resistance according to the magnetization direction of the first magnetic domain or a second resistance according to the magnetization direction of the second magnetic domain; and

a read circuit that compares the first resistance of the magnetoresistance element with the second resistance of the magnetoresistance element,

wherein the read circuit outputs first data when the first resistance and the second resistance correspond to the same low or high resistance state and outputs second data when the first resistance and the second resistance correspond to different low/high resistance states.

2. The magnetic storage device according to claim 1,

wherein the read circuit outputs the first data when a difference between the first resistance and the second resistance is equal to or less than a first value and outputs the second data when the difference between the first resistance and the second resistance is larger than the first value.

3. The magnetic storage device according to claim 1,

wherein the magnetoresistance element has a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure and includes a first magnetic layer, a second magnetic layer, and a nonmagnetic layer between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer, and

wherein the second magnetic layer attains the same magnetization direction as the magnetization direction of the first magnetic domain by a magnetic induction from the first magnetic domain of the magnetic wire.

4. The magnetic storage device according to claim 3,

wherein the magnetoresistance element has a low resistance state when a magnetization direction of the second magnetic layer is parallel to the magnetization direction of the first magnetic layer, and

wherein the magnetoresistance element has a high resistance state when the magnetization direction of the second magnetic layer is antiparallel to the magnetization direction of the first magnetic layer.

5. The magnetic storage device according to claim 1,

wherein the magnetoresistance element includes a first magnetic layer and a nonmagnetic layer,

wherein the magnetoresistance element has a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure and includes the first magnetic domain of the magnetic wire, the first magnetic layer, and the nonmagnetic layer between the first magnetic domain and the first magnetic layer.

6. The magnetic storage device according to claim 5,

wherein the magnetoresistance element has a low resistance state when the magnetization direction of the first magnetic domain is parallel to a magnetization direction of the first magnetic layer, and

wherein the magnetoresistance element has a high resistance state when the magnetization direction of the first magnetic domain is antiparallel to the magnetization direction of the first magnetic layer.

7. The magnetic storage device according to claim 1,

wherein the read circuit includes a shift driver that shifts the first and second magnetic domains of the magnetic wire,

wherein the first magnetic domain of the magnetic wire is disposed at a first position in the magnetic wire, and

wherein, after the read circuit senses the first resistance depending on the magnetization direction of the first magnetic domain, the shift driver shifts the second magnetic domain to the first position.

8. The magnetic storage device according to claim 7, wherein the first position is a position sufficiently close to a second magnetic layer to cause the second magnetic layer to attain the same magnetization direction as the magnetization direction of the first or second magnetic domain that is at the first position by a magnetic induction.

9. The magnetic storage device according to claim 1,

wherein the read circuit includes a first circuit that senses the first resistance and the second resistance of the magnetoresistance element, and a sense amplifier that compares the first resistance and the second resistance, which are sensed by the first circuit, with each other, and

wherein the first circuit includes a second circuit that supplies or stops a read current to the magnetoresistance element, a capacitor that stores a signal corresponding to either the first resistance or the second resistance, and a third circuit that sets timing for storing the signal in the capacitor.

10. The magnetic storage device according to claim 1,

wherein the read circuit includes a first circuit that senses the first resistance and the second resistance of the magnetoresistance element, and a sense amplifier that compares the first resistance and the second resistance which are sensed by the first circuit, with each other, and

wherein the first circuit includes a second circuit that supplies or stops a read current to the magnetoresistance element, a first capacitor that stores a signal corresponding to the first resistance, a second capacitor that stores a signal corresponding to the second resistance, a third circuit that sets timing for storing the signal corresponding to the first resistance in the first capacitor, and a fourth circuit that sets timing for storing the signal corresponding to the second resistance in the second capacitor.

11. The magnetic storage device according to claim 1,

wherein the read circuit outputs the first data when a difference between the first resistance and the second resistance is equal to or less than a first value and outputs the second data when the difference between the first resistance and the second resistance is larger than the first value, and

wherein the read circuit includes a first circuit that senses the first resistance and the second resistance of the magnetoresistance element, and a sense amplifier that compares the first resistance and the second resistance which are sensed by the first circuit, with each other.

12. The magnetic storage device according to claim 1, wherein the first and second magnetic domains are adjacent magnetic domains in the liner magnetic body.

13. A magnetic storage device comprising:

a magnetic wire including a linear magnetic body having first and second magnetic domains whose magnetization directions are variable;

a magnetoresistance element having a first resistance when the first magnetic domain is at a position where the magnetoresistance element is subject to influence from magnetic induction by the first magnetic domain and a second resistance when the second magnetic domain is at a position where the magnetoresistance element is subject to influence from magnetic induction by the second magnetic domain; and

a read circuit configured generate a first result if the first and second magnetic domains have the same magnetization directions and a second result if the first and second magnetic domains have the different magnetization directions.

14. The magnetic storage device according to claim 13, wherein the first and second magnetic domains are adjacent magnetic domains in the liner magnetic body.

15. The magnetic storage device according to claim 14,

wherein the magnetoresistance element has a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure and includes a first magnetic layer, a second magnetic layer, and a nonmagnetic layer between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer, and

wherein the second magnetic layer attains the same magnetization direction as the magnetization direction of the first or second magnetic domain that is at the position where the magnetoresistance element is subject to influence from magnetic induction by the first or second magnetic domain.

16. The magnetic storage device according to claim 14,

wherein the magnetoresistance element includes a first magnetic layer and a nonmagnetic layer,

wherein the magnetoresistance element has a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure and includes the first or second magnetic domain that is at the position where the magnetoresistance element is subject to influence from magnetic induction by the first or second magnetic domain, the first magnetic layer, and the nonmagnetic layer between the first magnetic domain and the first magnetic layer.

17. The magnetic storage device according to claim 13,

wherein the read circuit includes a shift driver that shifts the second magnetic domain into the position where the magnetoresistance element is subject to influence from magnetic induction by the second magnetic domain.

18. The magnetic storage device according to claim 13,

wherein the read circuit includes a first circuit that senses the first resistance and the second resistance of the magnetoresistance element, and a sense amplifier that compares the first resistance and the second resistance, which are sensed by the first circuit, with each other, and

wherein the first circuit includes a second circuit that supplies or stops a read current to the magnetoresistance element, a capacitor that stores a signal corresponding to either the first resistance or the second resistance, and a third circuit that sets timing for storing the signal in the capacitor.

19. The magnetic storage device according to claim 13,

wherein the read circuit includes a first circuit that senses the first resistance and the second resistance of the magnetoresistance element, and a sense amplifier that compares the first resistance and the second resistance which are sensed by the first circuit, with each other, and

wherein the first circuit includes a second circuit that supplies or stops a read current to the magnetoresistance element, a first capacitor that stores a signal corresponding to the first resistance, a second capacitor that stores a signal corresponding to the second resistance, a third circuit that sets timing for storing the signal corresponding to the first resistance in the first capacitor, and a fourth circuit that sets timing for storing the signal corresponding to the second resistance in the second capacitor.

20. The magnetic storage device according to claim 13,

wherein the read circuit outputs the first result when a difference between the first resistance and the second resistance is equal to or less than a first value and outputs the second result when the difference between the first resistance and the second resistance is larger than the first value, and

wherein the read circuit includes a first circuit that senses the first resistance and the second resistance of the magnetoresistance element, and a sense amplifier that compares the first resistance and the second resistance which are sensed by the first circuit, with each other.