Patent ID: 7554837

Claim:
A magnetic memory device comprising: first and second write wires that intersect each other in a non-contact manner; and a magnetic tunnel junction element which is arranged in an intersection of said first and second write wires and includes a magnetic tunnel junction, wherein said magnetic tunnel junction element has a free layer consisting of a ferromagnetic material in which a magnetization direction is variable with a magnetic field generated by current flowing through said first and second write wires, and in the case where a distance between a center of said first write wire in a thickness direction and a center of said free layer in the thickness direction is represented as L 1 , a distance between a center of said second write wire in the thickness direction and a center of said free layer in the thickness direction is represented as L 2 , a cross-sectional area of said first write wire in a width direction is represented as S 2 and a cross-sectional area of said second write wire in a width direction is referred to as S 1 , said distance L 1 , said distance L 2 , said cross-sectional area S 1 , and said cross-sectional area S 2 are set in such a manner that when a ratio of said distance L 1 to said distance L 2 is L 1 /L 2 ≧1, a relation of (⅓)·(L 1 /L 2 )≦S 2 /S 1 ≦1 is satisfied and when the ratio of said distance L 1 to said distance L 2 is L 1 /L 2 ≦1, a relation of 1≦S 2 /S 1 ≦3(L 1 /L 2 ) is satisfied, wherein a material of said first and second write wires is selected from among tantalum in use of tantalum nitride as barrier metal, material of aluminum series, material of titanium series, material of copper series, and material of tungsten series.