Patent ID: 6169688
Filing Date: 2001-01-02
Classification: G11C,H01L

Abstract:
A magnetic storage device comprising: a plurality of data selection lines; a first power supply node for supplying currents of two types having the same polarity and different magnitudes to said plurality of data selection lines; a plurality of data transfer lines arranged to intersect said plurality of data selection lines; and a plurality of memory cells each comprising: a first magnetic material element having a magnetization easy axis arranged to substantially be parallel to the longitudinal direction of said data selection lines; a second magnetic material having a magnetization easy axis arranged to substantially be parallel to the longitudinal direction of said data selection lines and having a coercivity smaller than that of said first magnetic material; and a nonmagnetic material being interposed between said first magnetic material and said second magnetic material, each memory cell being located at the intersection region between one of said data selection lines and one of said data transfer lines, wherein: when data is to be written in a selected memory cell, one of said currents of two types is supplied to a selected data selection line, and when data is to be read from the selected memory cell, the other of said currents of two types is supplied to the selected data selection line.