Patent ID: 8866244

Claim:
A semiconductor device comprising: a semiconductor substrate having a main surface; a switching element including a source region and a drain region, placed over the main surface of the semiconductor substrate; a flat plate-like lead-out wiring placed above the switching element; a spin torque written in-plane magnetization magnetoresistive element, positioned above the lead-out wiring, whose magnetization state can be changed according to the direction of a current flow; and a first wiring electrically coupled with the magnetoresistive element and extended toward the direction along the main surface, wherein the aspect ratio as viewed in a plane of the magnetoresistive element is a value other than 1, wherein in a memory cell area where a plurality of memory cells in which the magnetoresistive element and switching an element are electrically coupled with each other are arranged, a plurality of the magnetoresistive elements adjoining to each other in a first direction, or the direction of length of each the magnetoresistive element as viewed in a plane, are so arranged that the magnetoresistive elements are not on an identical straight line extended in the first direction, and wherein in an identical memory cell, the lead-out wiring is so arranged that the lead-out wiring does not at least partly overlap with an active region of the switching element in the main surface of the semiconductor substrate as viewed in a plane.