Patent ID: 7868404

Claim:
A ferromagnetic thin-film based device that is transitioned between alternative magnetic states thereof through having electrical currents established therethrough and has a reference magnetization provided therein by a vortex magnetization established in a thin-film, said device comprising: a substrate, and a device structure layer stack extending in a stack direction from said substrate on which it is supported, said stack having an outer surface curved at least in part about said stack direction with a lateral dimension between opposite curved side portions thereof, the stack comprising: a nonmagnetic intermediate layer, said intermediate layer having two major surfaces each on an opposite side thereof, a free layer of a ferromagnetic material on one of said major surfaces having a thickness sufficient to permit a vortex magnetization therein, and a reference magnetization layer having therein a reference ferromagnetic material layer on that remaining one of said major surfaces with its magnetization being a vortex magnetization that is maintained so by a reference antiferromagnetic layer on said reference ferromagnetic material layer.