SPIN-VALVE RAM CELL

This paper presents the design and the characteristics of a nonvolatil e memory cell using giant magneto-resistance effects. Unlike other mag netic memory cells [1], the present cell design [2] exploits the full Delta R of the spin valve material. A dc voltage difference between th e two cell states of 30 mV range has been realized on a cell stripe on ly 6-micron long, making it compatible with the high-speed sensing sch emes presently employed in silicon RAMs. The cell switches states in s ub-nanoseconds. Its performance/density is close to that of the static RAM cell.