Patent ID: 8159866

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 antiferromagnetically coupled and self-pinned; 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.