HYBRID FERROMAGNET-SEMICONDUCTOR NONVOLATILE GATE

A novel magnetoelectronic device for digital applications is presented , and characteristics of a Nonvolatile Random Access Memory (NRAM) cel l are discussed. A prototype cell with micron dimensions and with bina ry output states of 0 and 80 mV has been demonstrated at room temperat ure. Device fabrication requires only two lithographic levels, one for a Hall cross and one for an electrically isolated, microstructured bi stable ferromagnetic him. Locally strong magnetic fringe fields from t he edge of the film generate a Hall voltage in the semiconductor. The sign of the fringe field, as well as the polarity of the Hall voltage, is switched by reversing the in-plane magnetization of the ferromagne t. The device is inverse scalable: output characteristics improve as d imensions shrink. A high-density, solid state NRAM with nsec read, wri te and access times could replace both DRAM and magnetic disk drives i n most computer environments, eliminating redundancy in memory systems .