Patent ID: 6998665

Claim:
A nonvolatile magnetic memory device including a tunnel magnetoresistive element configured by sandwiching a tunnel dielectric layer between ferromagnetics, wherein information is stored by utilizing a change in resistance according to whether the directions of spins in said ferromagnetics are parallel or antiparallel; said nonvolatile magnetic memory device further including a first wiring and a second wiring intersecting each other at different levels with said tunnel magnetoresistive element interposed there between; said first wiring being electrically insulated from said tunnel magnetoresistive element; said second wiring being electrically connected to said tunnel magnetoresistive element; said tunnel magnetoresistive element comprising a cap layer, an upper ferromagnetic layer, a tunnel dielectric layer, and a lower ferromagnetic layer such that said lower ferromagnetic layer extends in a horizontal plane beyond the upper magnetic layer and the tunnel dielectric layer; and further comprising a side barrier layer for blocking impurities formed on side surfaces of said tunnel dielectric layer and said cap layer and extending in the vertical direction from said cap layer to an upper surface of said lower ferromagnetic layer.