Switching and reliability issues of magnetic tunnel junctions for high-density memory device

Magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) is one of the promising universal memories, which combines the high speed of static RAM, high-density of dynamic RAM, and non-volatility of FLASH memory. However, MRAM faces several challenges prior to the appearance at the commercial market on a large scale. The most important challenge among them will be an issue, related to the magnetic switching. The conventional MRAM structures and writing methods cause several issues to be overcome for high packing density without cross-talk. Furthermore, small ferromagnetic elements will require high magnetic field, which will increase the power consumption of the devices. This article will review new writing schemes, such as thermal-assisted switching and spin-transfer switching methods. In addition, reliability characteristics and thermal stability of magnetic tunnel junctions will be presented, because ensuring the reliability of magnetic tunnel junctions emerges as an another challenging problem for the successful application of the new writing schemes to the high-density MRAM devices in the next generation. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.