1792 results about "Magnetoresistance" patented technology

An integrated sensor includes a magnetoresistance element electrically coupled to a device disposed on or integrated in a silicon substrate. A conductor is provided proximate to the magnetoresistance element. The integrated sensor can be used to provide various devices, such as a current sensor, a magnetic field sensor, or an isolator. Further, the integrated sensor can be used in an open loop configuration or in a closed loop configuration in which an additional conductor is provided. The magntoresistance element may be formed over the silicon substrate or on a separate, non-silicon substrate. Also described is an integrated sensor comprising a substrate, a magnetic field transducer disposed over a surface of the substrate, and a conductor disposed over the surface of the substrate proximate to the magnetic field transducer. The magnetic field transducer can be a Hall effect transducer or a magnetoresistance element.

A method and system for providing a magnetic element is disclosed. The method and system include providing a pinned layer, a magnetic current confined layer, and a free layer. The pinned layer is ferromagnetic and has a first pinned layer magnetization. The magnetic current confined layer has at least one channel in an insulating matrix and resides between the pinned layer and the free layer. The channel(s) are ferromagnetic, conductive, and extend through the insulating matrix between the free layer and the pinned layer. The size(s) of the channel(s) are sufficiently small that charge carriers can give rise to ballistic magnetoresistance in the magnetic current confined layer. The free layer is ferromagnetic and has a free layer magnetization. Preferably, the method and system also include providing a second pinned layer and a nonmagnetic spacer layer between the second pinned layer and the free layer. In this aspect, the magnetic element is configured to allow the free layer magnetization to be switched using spin transfer.

A method of testing P2 stiffness of a magnetoresistance (MR) sensor stack including a P2 pinned layer is provided. The method comprises the step of applying an external magnetic field to the MR sensor stack. The external magnetic field is oriented substantially perpendicular to a magnetic field of the P2 pinned layer. The method further comprises varying an amplitude of the external magnetic field, measuring a change in a resistance of the MR sensor stack in response to the varying amplitude of the external magnetic field, and calculating the P2 stiffness based on the measured change in resistance.

A read sensor for a read transducer is fabricated. The read transducer has field and device regions. A read sensor stack is deposited. A mask covering part of the stack corresponding to the read sensor is provided. The read sensor having inboard and outboard junction angles is defined from the stack in a track width direction. A critical junction (CJ) focused ion beam scan (FIBS) polishing that removes part of the read sensor based on the junction angles is performed. A hard bias structure is deposited and the transducer planarized. A remaining portion of the mask is removed. A stripe height mask covering part of the read sensor and hard bias structure in a stripe height direction is provided. The read sensor stripe height is defined. A tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) FIBS polishing that removes part of the stack in the field region is performed. An insulating layer is provided.

A method of manufacturing a magnetic head device includes forming a thin film magnetic head element over a substrate, the thin film magnetic head element including a magnetoresistance (MR) element. The substrate is cut such that the MR element is exposed on a side surface of the substrate. The side surface is then polished. Afterward, a magnetically degenerated layer is removed from the thin film magnetic head element along the side surface. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

It is possible to reduce a current required for spin injection writing. A magneto-resistance effect element includes: a first magnetization pinned layer; a magnetization free layer; a tunnel barrier layer; a second magnetization pinned layer whose direction of magnetization is pinned to be substantially anti-parallel to the direction of magnetization of the first magnetization pinned layer, and; a non-magnetic layer. When the second magnetization pinned layer is made of ferromagnetic material including Co, material for the non-magnetic layer is metal including at least one element selected from the group consisting of Zr, Hf, Rh, Ag, and Au; when the second magnetization pinned layer is made of ferromagnetic material including Fe, material for the non-magnetic layer is metal including at least one element selected from the group consisting of Rh, Pt, Ir, Al, Ag, and Au; and when the second magnetization pinned layer is made of ferromagnetic material including Ni, material for the non-magnetic layer is metal including at least one element selected from the group consisting of Zr, Hf, Au, and Ag.

Magnetic tunnel junctions are constructed from a MgO or Mg—ZnO tunnel barrier and amorphous magnetic layers in proximity with, and on respective sides of, the tunnel barrier. The amorphous magnetic layer preferably includes Co and at least one additional element selected to make the layer amorphous, such as boron. Magnetic tunnel junctions formed from the amorphous magnetic layers and the tunnel barrier have tunneling magnetoresistance values of up to 200% or more.

A method and system for providing a magnetic element that can be used in a magnetic memory is disclosed. The magnetic element includes pinned, spacer, free, and spin barrier layers. The spacer layer is nonmagnetic and resides between the pinned and free layers. The free layer can be switched using spin transfer when a write current is passed through the magnetic element. The free layer resides between the spacer layer and the spin barrier layer. The spin barrier layer is configured to reduce an outer surface contribution to a damping constant of the free layer. In one aspect, the spin barrier layer has a high areal resistance and may substantially eliminate spin pumping induced damping. In another aspect, the magnetic element also includes a spin accumulation layer between the spin barrier and free layers. The spin accumulation layer has a high conductivity, preferably being metallic, and may have a long spin diffusion length.

A re-programmable gate logic includes a plurality of non-volatile re-configurable resistance state-based memory circuits in parallel, wherein the circuits are re-configurable to implement or change a selected gate logic, and the plurality of non-volatile re-configurable resistance state-based memory circuits are each adapted to receive a logical input signal. An evaluation switch in series with the plurality of parallel non-volatile re-configurable resistance state-based memory circuits is configured to provide an output signal based on the programmed states of the memory circuits. A sensor is configured to receive the output signal and provide a logical output signal on the basis of the output signal and a reference signal provided to the sensor. The reconfigurable logic may be implemented based on using spin torque transfer (STT) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) magnetoresistance random access memory (MRAM) as the re-programmable memory elements. The logic configuration is retained without power.

A foundation layer increasing adhesive properties to a substrate, another foundation layer controlling orientation of an antiferromagnetic layer, the antiferromagnetic layer including a disordered alloy of IrMn, a pinning layer, and a cap protection layer are formed in the order on the substrate. The pinning layer includes two layers having an exchange coupling giving layer which exchange-couples to the antiferromagnetic layer and an exchange coupling enhancement layer which enhances the exchange coupling, the exchange coupling giving layer is made of a ferromagnetic material including Co or a Co100-XFeX alloy (O<=X<25) having face-centered cubic structure. The exchange coupling enhancement layer is made of Fe or a Co100-YFeY alloy (25<=Y<=100) having body-centered cubic structure.

ZnMg oxide tunnel barriers are grown which, when sandwiched between ferri- or ferromagnetic layers, form magnetic tunnel junctions exhibiting high tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR). The TMR may be increased by annealing the magnetic tunnel junctions. The zinc-magnesium oxide tunnel barriers may be incorporated into a variety of other devices, such as magnetic tunneling transistors and spin injector devices. The ZnMg oxide tunnel barriers are grown by first depositing a zinc and/or magnesium layer onto an underlying substrate in oxygen-poor (or oxygen-free) conditions, and subsequently depositing zinc and/or magnesium onto this layer in the presence of reactive oxygen.

A semiconductor integrated circuit device able to configure a desired circuit in accordance with a circuit configuration instruction signal given from the outside and able to operate the configured circuit is provided. The semiconductor integrated circuit device has a plurality of circuit elements, a plurality of connection elements each of which becomes a conductive state or a nonconductive state, interconnects for supplying control signals for placing the connection elements in the conductive state or the nonconductive state, and a plurality of circuit selection switching elements, wherein said circuit selection switching elements are driven in response to the circuit configuration instruction signal, control signals are output from the circuit selection switching elements, and the desired circuit is configured by combining the circuit elements via said connection elements which become the conductive state or the nonconductive state in accordance with the control signals. As the connection elements, preferably use is made of magnetoresistance effect elements or resistance control elements which become the conductive state or the nonconductive state in accordance with application of a magnetic field. As the circuit elements, use can be made of magnetoresistance effect elements or resistance control elements.

A ferromagnetic tunnel junction structure comprising a first ferromagnetic layer, a second ferromagnetic layer, and a tunnel barrier layer that is interposed between the first ferromagnetic layer and the second ferromagnetic layer, wherein the tunnel barrier layer includes a crystalline non-magnetic material having constituent elements that are similar to those of an crystalline oxide that has spinel structure as a stable phase structure; the non-magnetic material has a cubic structure having a symmetry of space group Fm-3m or F-43m in which atomic arrangement in the spinel structure is disordered; and an effective lattice constant of the cubic structure is substantially half of the lattice constant of the oxide of the spinel structure.

A magnetoresistive element includes a first reference layer having magnetic anisotropy perpendicular to a film surface, and an invariable magnetization, a recording layer having a stacked structure formed by alternately stacking magnetic layers and nonmagnetic layers, magnetic anisotropy perpendicular to a film surface, and a variable magnetization, and an intermediate layer provided between the first reference layer and the recording layer, and containing a nonmagnetic material. The magnetic layers include a first magnetic layer being in contact with the intermediate layer and a second magnetic layer being not in contact with the intermediate layer. The first magnetic layer contains an alloy containing cobalt (Co) and iron (Fe), and has a film thickness larger than that of the second magnetic layer.

A magnetoresistance effect element comprises: a magnetoresistance effect film, a pair of electrodes, and a phase separation layer. The magnetoresistance effect film includes a first ferromagnetic layer whose direction of magnetization is pinned substantially in one direction, a second ferromagnetic layer whose direction of magnetization changes in response to an external magnetic field, and an intermediate layer provided between the first and second ferromagnetic layers. The pair of electrodes are electrically coupled to the magnetoresistance effect film and configured to supply a sense current perpendicularly to a film plane of the magnetoresistance effect film. The phase separation layer is provided between the pair of electrodes. The phase separation layer has a first phase and a second phase formed by a phase separation in a solid phase from an alloy including a plurality of elements. One of the first and second phases includes at least one element selected from the group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen, fluorine and carbon in higher concentration than other of the first and second phases.

A magnetic tunneling element is constructed from a MgO or Mg—ZnO tunnel barrier and an amorphous magnetic layer in proximity with the tunnel barrier. The amorphous magnetic layer includes Co and at least one additional element selected to make the layer amorphous. Magnetic tunnel junctions formed from the amorphous magnetic layer, the tunnel barrier, and an additional ferromagnetic layer have tunneling magnetoresistance values of up to 200% or more.

A semiconductor memory device includes memory cells, first wirings, a first current driver circuit, and a second current driver circuit. The memory cell includes a magneto-resistive element having a first ferromagnetic film, an insulating film formed on the first ferromagnetic film, and a second ferromagnetic film formed on the insulating film. The first wiring is provided in close proximity to and insulated from the magneto-resistive element. The first current driver circuit supplies a first current to the first wiring in a write operation to produce a magnetic field around the magneto-resistive elements. The second current driver circuit supplies a second current between the first and second ferromagnetic films via the insulating film in a write and a read operation.

Novel articles and methods to fabricate the same resulting in flexible, large-area, triaxially textured, single-crystal or single-crystal-like, semiconductor-based, electronic devices are disclosed. Potential applications of resulting articles are in areas of photovoltaic devices, flat-panel displays, thermophotovoltaic devices, ferroelectric devices, light emitting diode devices, computer hard disc drive devices, magnetoresistance based devices, photoluminescence based devices, non-volatile memory devices, dielectric devices, thermoelectric devices and quantum dot laser devices.