Patent ID: 9336847
Filing Date: 2016-05-10
CPC Classification: G11C

Claim Text:
1. A method for reading a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) storage element, comprising: passing a first current through the MTJ storage element to generate a first voltage; passing a second current through a reference resistance device to generate a second voltage, wherein the reference resistance device includes a plurality of groups of at least two reference MTJ devices, each reference MTJ device in a respective group is coupled in parallel with each other reference MTJ device in the respective group, and each group of reference MTJ devices is coupled in series with the other groups of reference MTJ devices; shorting across the entirety of at least one of the reference MTJ devices; comparing the first voltage to the second voltage using a sense amplifier to create comparison results; and outputting a high or low signal from the sense amplifier, dependent upon the comparison results.