MAGNETORESISTIVE EFFECT ELEMENT, MAGNETIC MEMORY CELL USING SAME, AND RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY

摘要

Disclosed is a magnetoresistive effect element which uses a vertically magnetized material and has a high TMR ratio. Intermediate layers (31, 32) are inserted on the outer sides of a structure that consists of a CoFeB layer (41), an MgO barrier layer (10) and a CoFeB layer (42), said intermediate layers (31, 32) being composed of an elemental metal having a melting point of not less than 1600°C or an alloy containing the metal. By the insertion of the intermediate layers (31, 32), crystallization of the CoFeB layers proceeds from the MgO (001) crystal side during the annealing so that the CoFeB layers have a crystal orientation in the bcc(001) direction.