Patent ID: 8405076

Claim:
A nonvolatile memory element comprising: a substrate; a lower electrode layer formed on the substrate; a variable resistance layer formed on the lower electrode layer, the variable resistance layer changing between a high resistance state and a low resistance state depending on applied electric signals having different polarities; an upper electrode layer formed on the variable resistance layer, wherein the variable resistance layer has a multiple-layered structure including at least two layers of: a first metal oxide layer including an oxide of a first metal element M 1 ; and a second metal oxide layer including an oxide of a second metal element M 2 different from the first metal element M 1 , the second metal oxide layer (i) contacts at least one of the upper electrode layer and the lower electrode layer, and (ii) contacts the first metal oxide layer, and an absolute value of reaction energy of chemical reaction related to the oxide of the first metal element M 1 and the oxide of the second metal element M 2 is equal to or less than 2 eV, the chemical reaction being expressed by a formula 12: [Mathematical Expression 12] M 1 O α +M 2 O δ M 1 O β +M 2 O γ (Formula 12) wherein α, β, γ, and δ represent arbitrary positive numbers satisfying β>α, δ>γ, M 1 O α , and M 1 O β represent compositions of oxides of the first metal element M 1 which have different oxidation degrees, and M 2 O δ and M 2 O γ represent compositions of oxides of the second metal element M 2 which have different oxidation degrees, and a combination (M 1 O α , M 1 O β ) of M 1 O α and M 1 O β is (TaO 2 , Ta 2 O 5 ), and a combination (M 2 O γ , M 2 O δ ) of M 2 O δ and M 2 O γ is selected from a group including (SnO, SnO 2 ), (NbO 2 , Nb 2 O 5 ), (W 3 O 8 , WO 3 ), (Cu 2 O, CuO), and (Ti 2 O 3 , TiO 2 ).