Magnetic memory devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9437654-B2
Application number	US-201514715633-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 19, 2015
Priority date	Sep 29, 2014
Publication date	Sep 6, 2016
Grant date	Sep 6, 2016

Abstract

Magnetic memory devices may include a substrate, a circuit device on the substrate, a plurality of lower electrodes electrically connected to the circuit device, a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure commonly provided on the plurality of the lower electrodes, and a plurality of upper electrodes on the MTJ structure. The MTJ structure may include a plurality of magnetic material patterns and a plurality of insulation material patterns separating the magnetic material patterns from each other.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A magnetic memory device, comprising:
a substrate;
a plurality of first electrodes on a first plane on the substrate;
a plurality of second electrodes on a second plane that is different from the first plane; and
a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure between the plurality of first electrodes and the plurality of second electrodes, the MTJ structure including a first magnetic layer, a tunnel barrier layer and a second magnetic layer that are sequentially stacked on the plurality of first electrodes, and at least one of the first magnetic layer or the second magnetic layer including:
a plurality of magnetic material patterns; and
a plurality of insulation material patterns separating the plurality of magnetic material patterns from each other, wherein ones of the plurality of magnetic material patterns overlap with one of the plurality of first electrodes in plan view,

wherein the one of the plurality of first electrodes comprises a first one of the plurality of first electrodes, and the ones of the plurality of magnetic material patterns comprise first ones of the plurality of magnetic material patterns that overlap with the first one of the plurality of first electrodes in plan view,
wherein the plurality of first electrodes comprise a second one of the plurality of first electrodes, and the plurality of magnetic material patterns comprise second ones of the plurality of magnetic material patterns that overlap with the second one of the plurality of first electrodes in plan view, and
wherein the plurality of magnetic material patterns comprise third ones of the plurality of magnetic material patterns that are between the first ones of the plurality of magnetic material patterns and the second ones of the plurality of magnetic material patterns.

2. The magnetic memory device of claim 1 , wherein the MTJ structure has a plate shape extending in a first direction and a second direction parallel to a top surface of the substrate and perpendicular to each other.

3. The magnetic memory device of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic material patterns include iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), chrome (Cr) and/or platinum (Pt), and
the insulation material patterns include silicon oxide, silicon nitride and/or silicon oxynitride.

4. The magnetic memory device of claim 3 , wherein the insulation material patterns enclose the respective magnetic material patterns.

5. The magnetic memory device of claim 1 , wherein the insulation material patterns include a ring pattern or a net pattern.

6. The magnetic memory device of claim 5 , wherein the magnetic material patterns are in holes included in the ring pattern or the net pattern.

7. The magnetic memory device of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic material patterns and the insulation material patterns are distributed throughout an entire area of the first magnetic layer or the second magnetic layer.

8. The magnetic memory device of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of first electrodes and each of the plurality of second electrodes overlap to form a pair of electrodes,
a portion of the magnetic material patterns between the pair of electrodes comprises a cell pattern, and
a portion of the magnetic material patterns not between the pair of electrodes comprises a dummy magnetic pattern.

9. The magnetic memory device of claim 1 , wherein the ones of the plurality of magnetic material patterns that overlap with the one of the plurality of first electrodes in plan view contact the one of the plurality of first electrodes.

10. The magnetic memory device of claim 1 , wherein the first ones of the plurality of magnetic material patterns are electrically connected to the first one of the plurality of first electrodes, and the second ones of the plurality of magnetic material patterns are electrically connected to the second one of the plurality of first electrodes, and
wherein the third ones of the plurality of magnetic material patterns are electrically isolated from the plurality of first electrodes.

11. The magnetic memory device of claim 1 , wherein some of the ones of the plurality of magnetic material patterns only partially overlap with the one of the plurality of first electrodes.

12. The magnetic memory device of claim 1 , wherein the second magnetic layer has a unitary structure and is electrically connected to ones of the plurality of second electrodes.

13. The magnetic memory device of claim 3 , wherein each of the plurality of insulation material patterns has a line width in a range of about 1 nm to about 3 nm, and
wherein each of the plurality of magnetic material patterns has a width in a range of about 4 nm to about 6 nm.

14. A magnetic memory device, comprising:
a plurality of first conductive lines extending in a first direction;
a plurality of second conductive lines extending over the first conductive lines and in a second direction crossing the first direction;
a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure between the plurality of first conductive lines and the plurality of second conductive lines, the MTJ structure including a first magnetic layer that comprises:
a plurality of magnetic material patterns; and
a plurality of insulation material patterns separating the plurality of magnetic material patterns from each other;

a plurality of lower electrodes at intersection areas of the plurality of first conductive lines and the plurality of second conductive lines and between the plurality of first conductive lines and the MTJ structure, wherein ones of the plurality of magnetic material patterns overlap with one of the plurality of lower electrodes in plan view, and some of the ones of the plurality of magnetic material patterns only partially overlap with the one of the plurality of lower electrodes in plan view; and
a plurality of upper electrodes at the intersection areas and between the plurality of second conductive lines and the MTJ structure.

15. The magnetic memory device of claim 14 , wherein the MTJ structure includes a second magnetic layer and a tunnel barrier layer between the first and second magnetic layers, and
wherein the plurality of magnetic material patterns contact the tunnel barrier layer.

16. The magnetic memory device of claim 14 , wherein the MTJ structure has a linear shape extending in the first direction or the second direction, and
wherein the MTJ structure is one among a plurality of the MTJ structures that are arranged along the second direction or the first direction.

17. The magnetic memory device of claim 14 , wherein the first conductive lines serve as word lines, and the second conductive lines serve as bit lines.

18. The magnetic memory device of claim 14 , further comprising selection devices between the first conductive lines and the lower electrodes.

Assignees

• Lee Sung-Chul
• Kim Kwang-Seok
• Kim Kee-Won
• Jang Young-Man
• Pi Ung-Hwan
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Sung-Chul
• Kim Kwang-Seok
• Kim Kee-Won
• Jang Young-Man
• Pi Ung-Hwan

Classifications

• H01L43/10

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L27/222 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10N50/85

  Materials of the active region · CPC title

• H10N50/80

  Constructional details · CPC title

• G11C11/161 Primary

  details concerning the memory cell structure, e.g. the layers of the ferromagnetic memory cell · CPC title