According to one embodiment, a magnetic memory device includes a first magnetic portion, a first electrode, a second electrode, a third electrode, a second magnetic portion, a first nonmagnetic portion, and a controller. The first magnetic portion includes an extension portion and a third portion. The extension portion includes a first portion and a second portion. The third portion is connected to the second portion. The first electrode is electrically connected to the first portion. At least a portion of the third portion is positioned between the second electrode and the third electrode. The second magnetic portion is provided between the second electrode and the at least a portion of the third portion. The first nonmagnetic portion is provided between the second magnetic portion and the at least a portion of the third portion. The controller is electrically connected to the first, second electrode, and third electrodes.

A first memory device includes a first magnetoresistive cell having a plurality of deposition layers. A second memory device includes a second magnetoresistive cell having a plurality of deposition layers. Each of the plurality of deposition layers of the second magnetoresistive cell corresponds to one of the plurality of deposition layers of the first magnetoresistive cell. One of the plurality of deposition layers of the second magnetoresistive cell is thinner than a corresponding deposition layer of the plurality of deposition layers of the first magnetoresistive cell.

Disclosed is a perpendicularly magnetized film structure that uses a highly heat resistant underlayer film on which a cubic or tetragonal perpendicularly magnetized film can grow with high quality, the structure comprising any one substrate (5) of a cubic single crystal substrate having a (001) plane, or a substrate having a cubic oriented film that grows to have the (001) plane; an underlayer (6) formed on the substrate (5) from a thin film of a metal having an hcp structure, such as Ru or Re, in which the [0001] direction of the thin metal film forms an angle in the range of 42? to 54? with respect to the <001> direction or the (001) orientation of the substrate (5); and a perpendicularly magnetized layer (7) located on the metal underlayer (6) and formed from a cubic material selected from the group consisting of a Co-based Heusler alloy, a cobalt-iron (CoFe) alloy having a bcc structure, and the like, as a constituent material, and grown to have the (001) plane.

A synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF) structure for a spintronic device is disclosed and has an FL2/AF coupling/CoFeB configuration where FL2 is a ferromagnetic free layer with intrinsic PMA. In one embodiment, AF coupling is improved by inserting a Co dusting layer on top and bottom surfaces of a Ru AF coupling layer. The FL2 layer may be a L10 ordered alloy, a rare earth-transition metal alloy, or an (A1/A2).sub.n laminate where A1 is one of Co, CoFe, or an alloy thereof, and A2 is one of Pt, Pd, Rh, Ru, Ir, Mg, Mo, Os, Si, V, Ni, NiCo, and NiFe, or A1 is Fe and A2 is V. A method is also provided for forming the SAF structure.

Devices are described that include a multi-layered structure that is non-magnetic at room temperature, and which comprises alternating layers of Co and at least one other element E (such as Ga, Ge, and Sn). The composition of this structure is represented by Co.sub.1-xE.sub.x, with x being in the range from 0.45 to 0.55. The structure is in contact with a first magnetic layer that includes a Heusler compound. An MRAM element may be formed by overlying, in turn, the first magnetic layer with a tunnel barrier, and the tunnel barrier with a second magnetic layer (whose magnetic moment is switchable). Improved performance of the MRAM element may be obtained by placing a pinning layer between the first magnetic layer and the tunnel barrier.

A texture inducing structure for alloy films is provided. The texture inducing structure includes a substrate, a texture-inducing layer and a deposition layer. The texture-inducing layer is formed on the substrate. The texture-inducing layer has an intrinsically strong crystalline texture, a texture coefficient of the texture-inducing layer is greater than 2, and a thickness of the texture-inducing layer is ranged from 0.1 m to 6 m. The deposition layer is formed on the texture-inducing layer. A texture of the deposition layer is induced by the texture-inducing layer thereby changing the magnetic anisotropy and the magnetic strength of the deposition layer, a thickness of the deposition layer is ranged from 1 m60 m, and the thickness of the deposition layer is greater than that of the texture-inducing layer.

This invention provides a manufacturing method of a magnetoresistive effect element having a higher MR ratio than a conventional element. A manufacturing method of a magnetoresistive effect element of an embodiment of the invention includes: a step of forming a tunnel barrier layer on a substrate, on a surface of which one of a magnetization free layer and a magnetization fixed layer is formed; a step of cooling the substrate after the step of forming a tunnel barrier layer; a step of forming an other one of the magnetization free layer and the magnetization fixed layer on the tunnel barrier layer after the step of cooling; and a step of raising a temperature of the substrate after the step of forming the other one of the magnetization free layer and the magnetization fixed layer.

A magnetic memory including a plurality of magnetic junctions and at least one spin-orbit interaction (SO) active layer is described. Each of the magnetic junctions includes a pinned layer, a free layer and a nonmagnetic spacer layer between reference and free layers. The free layer has at least one of a tilted easy axis and a high damping constant. The tilted easy axis is at a nonzero acute angle from a direction perpendicular-to-plane. The high damping constant is at least 0.02. The at least one SO active layer is adjacent to the free layer and carries a current in-plane. The at least one SO active layer exerts a SO torque on the free layer due to the current. The free layer is switchable using the SO torque.

The problem of the invention is to provide a magnetic thin film having a high magnetic anisotropy constant Ku and a high coercive force Hc, and to provide an application device comprising the above magnetic thin film. The magnetic thin film of the present invention includes an ordered alloy including: at least one first element selected from the group consisting of Fe and Ni; at least one second element selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Au and Ir; and Sc.

A heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) medium includes a perpendicular magnetic recording layer (typically a chemically-ordered FePt alloy), a seed/thermal barrier layer (typically MgO) below the recording layer, and a heat-sink layer with anisotropic thermal conductivity below the seed/thermal barrier layer. The in-plane thermal conductivity of the heat-sink layer is greater than its out-of-plane thermal conductivity. The heat-sink layer may be selected from hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), hexagonal graphite, and the 6H polytype of hexagonal silicon carbide (6H-SiC). If the heat-sink layer is h-BN, the h-BN layer is formed on a seed layer and has its c-axis oriented out-of-plane (substantially orthogonal to the surface of the medium substrate).