Patent ID: 7411817

Claim:
Magnetic memory written in a thermally assisted manner, each memory point of which ( 40 , 60 ) is formed by a magnetic tunnel junction, and the cross-section of which parallel to the plane of the layers forming the tunnel junction is circular or substantially circular, said tunnel junction comprising at least: a reference magnetic layer ( 44 , 64 ) termed “trapped layer”, the magnetization of which is in a fixed direction; a storage magnetic layer ( 42 , 62 ), termed a “free layer”, the direction of magnetization of which is variable; an insulating layer ( 43 , 63 ), placed between the free layer ( 42 , 62 ) and the trapped layer ( 44 , 64 ), in which the storage layer ( 42 , 62 ) is formed of at least one soft magnetic layer, that is, having reduced magnetic anisotropy, and a trapping layer ( 41 , 61 ), the two layers being magnetically coupled by contact, and in which the operating temperature of the memory when reading or at rest is selected at below the blocking temperature of the free and trapped layers respectively.