Patent ID: 8456882

Claim:
A magnetic junction for use in a magnetic memory device comprising: a first pinned layer having a first pinned layer magnetic moment and being nonmagnetic layer-free; a first nonmagnetic spacer layer; a free layer, the first nonmagnetic spacer layer residing between the first pinned layer and the free layer; a second nonmagnetic spacer layer, the free layer residing between the first nonmagnetic spacer layer and the second nonmagnetic spacer layer; and a second pinned layer having a second pinned layer magnetic moment and being nonmagnetic layer-free, the second nonmagnetic spacer layer residing between the free layer and the second pinned layer, the first pinned layer magnetic moment and the second pinned layer magnetic moment being self-pinned and magnetically coupled; wherein the magnetic junction is configured to allow the free layer to be switched between a plurality of stable magnetic states when a write current is passed through the magnetic junction.