MAGNETIC MEMORY CELL, INTEGRATED CIRCUIT OR MAGNETIC MEMORY DEVICE INCLUDING THE MEMORY DEVICE, AND ELECTRONIC APPARATUS BUILT WITH THE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT OR THE MAGNETIC MEMORY DEVICE

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a magnetic memory cell, having stable characteristics by deciding a suitable critical crystal grain size which does not bring about undesirable unevenness at an MR ratio or in a pinning magnetic field or the like and applying the crystal grain size to a crystal grain size control of a ferromagnetic film.;SOLUTION: The magnetic memory cell comprises a ferromagnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) 40 constituted by sequentially laminating at least an antiferromagnetic layer 42, a ferromagnetic fixed layer 43, a non-magnetic spacer layer 44 and a ferromagnetic free layer 45. A mean grain sizes of crystal grains of a lower site layer (preferably an antiferromagnetic layer 42) of the MTJ 40 is 30 nm or smaller, and a crystal array of the lower site layer is oriented randomly (not oriented). Thus, a crystallographical rearrangement will not start locally, not only a macrocrystal up to several hundreds of nm but also to 'a local and crystallographical rearrangement' before arriving at the giant crystal are avoided, and a roughness can be more surely suppressed, in association with the no orientation of the crystal.;COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO