Patent ID: 6856565

Claim:
A thin film magnetic memory device, comprising: a plurality of memory cells each being magnetized along an easy axis in a direction corresponding to storage data magnetically written therein, and each having an electric resistance corresponding to a magnetization direction; a data line that is electrically coupled to a fixed voltage through a selected one of said plurality of memory cells in read operation; a current supply circuit for coupling said data line to a first prescribed voltage at least in said read operation; a bias magnetic field applying section for applying a bias magnetic field along a hard axis to the selected memory cell; and a data read circuit for producing read data corresponding to storage data of the selected memory cell, based on voltages on said data line before and after application of said bias magnetic field to the selected memory cell in said read operation, said data read circuit includes a coupling capacitor provided between a first sense input node and said data line, for transmitting a voltage change on said data line before and after application of said bias magnetic field to said first sense input node, a voltage transmitting section for setting a voltage of a second sense input node to a same level as that of said first sense input node before application of said bias magnetic field in said read operation, a voltage holding section for holding the voltage of said second sense input node, a first voltage amplifier for amplifying a voltage difference between said first and second sense input nodes, and a data producing circuit for producing said read data according to an output of said first voltage amplifier after application of said bias magnetic field in said read operation.