Patent ID: 7863598

Claim:
A nonvolatile memory device, comprising: a plurality of memory cells arranged in an array, each memory cell including a variable resistor element capable of storing data in accordance with a change in electrical resistance due to application of electrical stress, a thermal diffusion barrier on a thermal diffusion path, wherein the thermal diffusion barrier is capable of suppressing a change in resistance of the variable resistor element due to heat diffusion from one of two adjacent memory cells separated by an electrical insulator from each other where heat is generated by applying the electrical stress for changing the electrical resistance of the variable resistor element to the other memory cell via the thermal diffusion path including an electrically conductive wiring material higher in thermal conductivity than that of the electrical insulator; and a memory cell array structure where the memory cells are arranged like a matrix in a row direction and column direction, and the memory cells along each row or column are electrically connected at one end to one another with the electrically conductive wiring material, wherein the thermal diffusion barrier which is lower in thermal conductivity than the electrically conductive wiring material is located between the electrically conductive wiring material and the memory cell, and the thermal conductivity TC (W/cmÂ·K) of the thermal diffusion barrier is expressed by TCâ‰¦ 7581.5 Ã—X 1.0697 (1) where X (cm) is a thickness of the thermal diffusion barrier.