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 method for manufacturing perpendicular magnetic recording medium which includes magnetic recording layer having desired film thickness while maintaining high magnetic anisotropy and having more homogenized magnetic characteristics. The method includes: (A) preparing non-magnetic substrate; (B) laminating magnetic recording layer on the substrate; and (C) heating the substrate on which the magnetic recording layer is laminated to a temperature of 400 to 600 C. The step (B) includes at least forming a first magnetic recording layer and a second magnetic layer thereon. The first layer has a granular structure including a first magnetic crystal grain constituted by an ordered alloy surrounded by a first non-magnetic grain boundary constituted by carbon, and the second layer has a granular structure including a second magnetic crystal grain constituted by an ordered alloy surrounded by a second non-magnetic grain boundary constituted by a non-magnetic material constituted by boron and carbon.

A magnetic element is disclosed wherein a composite seed layer such as TaN/Mg enhances perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in an overlying magnetic layer that may be a reference layer, free layer, or dipole layer. The first seed layer is selected from one or more of Ta, Zr, Nb, TaN, ZrN, NbN, and Ru. The second seed layer is selected from one or more of Mg, Sr, Ti, Al, V, Hf, B, and Si. A growth promoting layer made of NiCr or an alloy thereof is inserted between the seed layer and magnetic layer. In some embodiments, a first composite seed layer/NiCr stack is formed below the reference layer, and a second composite seed layer/NiCr stack is formed between the free layer and a dipole layer. The magnetic element has thermal stability to at least 400 C.

A magnetic memory according to an embodiment includes at least one MTJ element, the MTJ element including: a magnetic multilayer structure including a first magnetic layer in which a direction of magnetization is fixed, a second magnetic layer in which a direction of magnetization is changeable, and a tunnel barrier layer located between the first and second magnetic layers; a first electrode provided on a first surface of the magnetic multilayer structure; a second electrode provided on a second surface of the magnetic multilayer structure; an insulating film provided on a side surface of the magnetic multilayer structure; and a control electrode provided on the side surface of the magnetic multilayer structure with the insulating film located therebetween, a voltage being applied to the control electrode in a read operation, which increases an energy barrier for changing the magnetization of the second magnetic layer.

An improved magnetic tunnel junction with two oxide interfaces on each side of a ferromagnetic layer (FML) leads to higher PMA in the FML. The novel stack structure allows improved control during oxidation of the top oxide layer. This is achieved by the use of a FML with a multiplicity of ferromagnetic sub-layers deposited in alternating sequence with one or more non-magnetic layers. The use of non-magnetic layers each with a thickness of 0.5 to 10 Angstroms and with a high resputtering rate provides a smoother FML top surface, inhibits crystallization of the FML sub-layers, and reacts with oxygen to prevent detrimental oxidation of the adjoining ferromagnetic sub-layers. The FML can function as a free or reference layer in an MTJ. In an alternative embodiment, the non-magnetic material such as Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sr, Ba, and B is embedded by co-deposition or doped in the FML layer.

According to one embodiment, a magnetoresistive element includes a first magnetic layer having an invariable magnetization direction, a second magnetic layer having a variable magnetization direction, a first nonmagnetic layer between the first and second magnetic layers, a third magnetic layer having a variable magnetization direction, the magnetization directions of the second and third magnetic layers being opposite directions each other, and a second nonmagnetic layer between the second and third magnetic layers.

A memory device, an integrated circuit component including an array of the memory devices, and an integrated device assembly including the integrated circuit component. The memory devices includes a first electrode; a second electrode including an antiferromagnetic (AFM) material; and a memory stack including: a first layer adjacent the second electrode and including a multilayer stack of adjacent layers comprising ferromagnetic materials; a second layer adjacent the first layer; and a third layer adjacent the second layer at one side thereof, and adjacent the first electrode at another side thereof, the second layer between the first layer and the third layer, the third layer including a ferromagnetic material. The memory device may correspond to a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) magnetic random access memory bit cell, and the memory stack may correspond to a MTJ device.

The present invention relates to a metallic hard magnetic material selected from an at least binary ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic compound, with the metallic hard magnetic material including at least two different elements selected from the group consisting of 3d and 4f elements, where the metallic hard magnetic material is under an external magnetic field B of 0.1 T.