Arrangement of a magneto-resistance effect element having a surface contacting a side face of an electrode and magnetic memory using this arrangement
An area of an element can be made small and fluctuation in area can be reduced. A magneto-resistance effect element is provided with a first electrode with an end face; a magneto-resistance effect film which is formed such that a surface thereof comes in contact with the end face of the first electrode; and a second electrode which is formed on another surface of the magneto-resistance effect element opposed from the surface coming in contact with the surface of the first electrode. The magneto-resistance effect film includes a magnetization pinned layer whose magnetization direction is pinned, a magnetization free layer whose magnetization direction is changeable, and a first non-magnetic layer which is provided between the magnetization pinned layer and the magnetization free layer.
1. A magneto-resistance effect element comprising:
a substrate;
a first electrode provided above the substrate and having a lower face, an upper face opposed to the lower face, and a side face different from the lower and upper faces;
a magneto-resistance effect film which is formed such that a surface thereof comes in contact with the side face of the first electrode and which includes a magnetization pinned layer whose magnetization direction is pinned, a magnetization free layer whose magnetization direction is changeable, and a first non-magnetic layer which is provided between the magnetization pinned layer and the magnetization free layer; and
a second electrode which is formed on another surface of the magneto-resistance effect film opposed from the surface coming in contact with the side face of the first electrode,
wherein one layer of the magnetization free layer and the magnetization pinned layer in the magneto-resistance effect film has a sheet resistance higher than the other layer thereof, and the one layer comes in contact with the end face of the first electrode.
2. A magnetic memory including a plurality of memory cells arranged in a matrix manner, each of the memory cells being provided with a magneto-resistance effect element according to claim 1 .
3. A magneto-resistance effect element according to claim 1 , wherein the one layer is thinner than the other layer.
4. A magneto-resistance effect element according to claim 1 , wherein the one layer is the magnetization free layer.
5. A magneto-resistance effect element according to claim 1 , wherein the magnetization free layer includes non-magnetic element and has grain boundaries.
6. A magneto-resistance effect element according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of insulators are separately provided between either one of the magnetization free layer and the magnetization pinned layer, and the first non-magnetic layer.
7. A magneto-resistance effect element according to claim 6 , further comprising a second non-magnetic layer covered with the insulators, the second non-magnetic layer being provided between the plurality of insulators and the first non-magnetic layer.
8. A magneto-resistance effect element according to claim 1 , wherein the magnetization free layer is provided with ferromagnetic particles spaced by dielectric.
9. A magneto-resistance effect element according to claim 1 , wherein the magnetization pinned layer is a stacked film where a ferromagnetic layer and an anti-ferromagnetic layer are alternatively stacked.
10. A magneto-resistance effect element according to claim 1 , wherein the first non-magnetic layer is a tunnel barrier layer.