A
magnetic memory includes a
diode as an access device instead of MOS
transistor and a magnetoresistive storage serves as a storage element, wherein the
diode has four terminals, the first terminal is connected to a read word line, the second terminal serves as a storage node, the third terminal is floating, the fourth terminal is connected to a
bit line, and wherein the magnetoresistive storage includes MTJ (magnetic
tunnel junction) stack, the first
electrode of the stack is connected to the storage node, the second
electrode of the stack is connected to a free
magnetic layer which serves as a
resistor line, those electrodes are isolated by
insulation layer, and the stack is coupled to a pinned
magnetic layer which serves as a write word line. The
diode also serves as a current
amplifier with controlling the storage node through the storage element when the
resistor line is asserted to measure the resistance of the storage element during read. And current-to-
voltage converter receives the current output of the current
amplifier, and transfers
voltage output to the sense amp which amplifies the received
voltage from the (main)
memory cell and the reference voltage from the dummy
memory cell(s). After latching data, the sense amp output cuts off the current path of the
bit line. In the present invention, the memory cells are formed in between the routing
layers. Hence the memory cells can be stacked over the
peripheral circuits and alternatively multiple cells can be stacked.