Samsung patents memory component with improved stability and speed
Samsung has been granted a patent for a magnetic tunneling junction, a tiny switch used in computer memory. The design adds a specific oxide layer to the back of the magnetic material to make it more stable and faster.
In the filing’s own words
Provided are a magnetic tunneling junction device having more stable perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) and/or increased operating speed, and/or a memory device including the magnetic tunneling junction device. The magnetic tunneling junction device includes a free layer having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface; a pinned layer facing the first surface of the free layer; a first oxide layer between the pinned layer and the free layer; and a second oxide layer on the second surface of the free layer. The free layer includes a magnetic material X doped with a non-magnetic metal. The second oxide layer includes ZO x which is an oxide of a metal Z. An oxygen affinity of the metal Z is greater than an oxygen affinity of the non-magnetic metal X.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A magnetic tunneling junction device comprising: a free layer having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface; a pinned layer facing the first surface of the free layer; a first oxide layer between the pinned layer and the free layer; and a second oxide layer on the second surface of the free layer, wherein the free layer comprises a magnetic material doped with a non-magnetic metal, the second oxide layer comprises a metal oxide, and a metal in the metal oxide of the second oxide layer is different from the non-magnetic metal of the free layer.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
- Official title
- Magnetic tunneling junction device and memory device including the same
- Patent number
- US12733405B2
- Application number
- 18742115
- Filed
- Jun 13, 2024
- Granted
- Sep 8, 2026
- Inventors
- 4
- Claims
- 19
Classified under
H10N 50/10 Electricity & electronicsG11C 11/161 Physics & computingH01F 10/3286 Electricity & electronicsH10B 61/00 Electricity & electronicsH10N 50/85 Electricity & electronicsMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.