Static information storage and retrieval – Systems using particular element – Magnetic thin film
Utility Patent
1999-12-08
2001-01-02
Fears, Terrell W. (Department: 2824)
Static information storage and retrieval
Systems using particular element
Magnetic thin film
C365S207000
Utility Patent
active
06169689
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to stacks of memory cells having a plurality of memory levels and apparatus for reading the memory level of a stack of memory cells.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In today's world of electronic devices, more and larger memories are required. Because of the large number of portable electronic devices, there is a constant pressure to reduce the size of the memories used in the devices while increasing the amount of memory available. Generally, memories used in electronic devices are two dimensional arrays of cells, with each cell in the array individually addressable by means of a row and column connection. Once addressed, the memory state of the individual cell can be easily determined by sensing apparatus that depends upon the specific type of memory cell being used. The difficulty is that in order to increase the capacity of the memory the size of the memory must be increased with the size increasing in direct relationship to the capacity, i.e. doubling the capacity requires a memory with twice the size. Clearly, this can be a serious problem as memory capacity expands almost exponentially. In a related U.S. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,164, entitled “Magnetic Memory Unit Having Four States and Operating Method Therefor”, issued Jul. 27, 1999, stacked magnetic tunneling junction memory cells are used to achieve multistates. The magnetic tunneling junction memory cells and structure are background for the present invention and are incorporated herein by reference.
Accordingly it is highly desirable to provide apparatus which overcomes this problem and which is inexpensive and easy to install and use.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4884235 (1989-11-01), Thiele
patent: 5930164 (1999-07-01), Zhu
Fears Terrell W.
Koch William E.
Motorola Inc.
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