Patent ID: 7110288

Claim:
A thin film magnetic memory device, comprising: a matrix including: a plurality of memory cells aligned in a first direction, each memory cell having an electric resistance in accordance with magnetically written data; a plurality of dummy memory cells aligned in the first direction, each having a prescribed electric resistance; a plurality of redundant memory cells aligned in a second direction, including a first spare memory cell for replacement of any of the memory cells, and a second spare memory cell for replacement of any of the dummy memory cells; and a data read circuit performing data read based on an electric resistance difference between selected one of said plurality of memory cells and one of said plurality of dummy memory cells, wherein the plurality of memory cells and the first spare memory cell form a row or a column of the matrix, the plurality of dummy memory cells and the second spare memory cell form another row or column of the matrix, said plurality of dummy memory cells are arranged to form at least one row, and said plurality of dummy memory cells are selectively connected to said data read circuit based on a result of column selection.