Magnetic switching in high-density MRAM

Abstract

The anticipated commercialization of magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) chips spurs a great deal of interest in the magnetism community. Since non-volatile information is stored on increasingly shrinking magnetic elements in high-density MRAM, magnetic switching of patterned nanostructure elements plays a key role in memory functioning. In this chapter, we will first briefly review the existing mainstream semiconductor memories, followed by a review of different modes of MRAM. Then we will concentrate on magnetic switching and the effect of switching on selectivity for reading and writing in structures ranging from ideal single domains to patterned thin film elements whose dimensions are much greater than single domain. Lastly, we will discuss some specific issues related to magnetic switching in increasingly high-density MRAM.