The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 30, 2021
Filed:
Jul. 12, 2019
The Regents of the University of California, Oakland, CA (US);
Sayeef Salahuddin, Walnut Creek, CA (US);
Shehrin Sayed, Berkeley, CA (US);
The Regents of the University of California, Oakland, CA (US);
Abstract
A magnetic memory structure employs electric-field controlled interlayer exchange coupling between a free magnetic layer and a fixed magnetic layer to switch a magnetization direction. The magnetic layers are separated by a spacer layer disposed between two oxide layers. The spacer layer exhibits a large IEC while the oxide layers provide tunnel barriers, forming a quantum-well between the magnetic layers with discrete energy states above the equilibrium Fermi level. When an electric field is applied across the structure, the tunnel barriers become transparent at discrete energy states via a resonant tunneling phenomenon. The wave functions of the two magnets then can interact and interfere to provide a sizable IEC. IEC can control the magnetization direction of the free magnetic layer relative to the magnetization direction of the fixed magnetic layer depending on the sign of the IEC, induced by a magnitude of the applied electric field above a threshold value.