Abstract: A magneto-resistive element according to an aspect of the present invention includes a free layer whose magnetized state changes and a pinned layer whose magnetized state is fixed. The free layer comprises first and second ferromagnetic layers and a non-magnetic layer which is arranged between the first and second ferromagnetic layers. An intensity of exchange coupling between the first and second ferromagnetic layers is set so that an astroid curve in a hard axis direction opens.

Abstract: A magnetoresistive effect device includes a first ferromagnetic layer having a fixed magnetization direction and having magnetic moment ml per unit area. A nonmagnetic layer contacts with the first ferromagnetic layer and has an amplitude hi of roughness of an interface between the nonmagnetic layer and the first ferromagnetic layer. A second ferromagnetic layer contacts with the nonmagnetic layer, has a fixed magnetization direction, has magnetic moment m2 per unit area which is smaller than the magnetic moment m1, and has an amplitude h2 of roughness of an interface between the second ferromagnetic layer and the nonmagnetic layer. A barrier layer contacts with the second ferromagnetic layer, and has an amplitude h3, which is smaller than the amplitudes h1 and h2, of roughness of an interface between the barrier layer and the second ferromagnetic layer. A third ferromagnetic layer contacts with the barrier layer and has a variable magnetization direction.

Abstract: An imaging device comprises a select line, a first signal line crossing the select line, and a first pixel provided at a portion corresponding to a crossing portion of the select line and the first signal line, the first pixel comprising a first buffer layer formed on a substrate, a first bolometer film formed on the first buffer layer, made of a compound which undergoes metal-insulator transition, and generating a first temperature detection signal, a first switching element formed on the substrate, selected by a select signal from the select line, and supplying the first temperature detection signal to the first signal line, and a metal wiring connecting a top surface of the first bolometer film to the first switching element.

Abstract: A magnetic memory device includes a magnetoresistive element and a first wiring layer. The magnetoresistive element includes a fixed layer, a recording layer, and a non-magnetic layer interposed therebetween. The first wiring layer extends in a first direction and generates a magnetic field for recording data in the magnetoresistive element. The recording layer includes a base portion extending in a second direction rotated from the first direction by an angle falling within a range of more than 0° to not more than 20°, and first and second projections projecting from the first and second sides of the base portion in a third direction perpendicular to the second direction. The third and fourth sides of the base portion are inclined with respect to the third direction in the same rotational direction as a rotational direction in which the second direction is rotated.

Abstract: A magnetoresistive effect element includes a nonmagnetic layer having mutually facing first and second surfaces. A reference layer is provided on the first surface and has a fixed magnetization direction. A magnetization variable layer is provided on the second surface, has variable magnetization direction, and has a planer shape including a rectangular part, a first projected part, and a second projected part. The rectangular part has mutually facing first and second longer sides and mutually facing first and second shorter sides. The first projected part projects from the first longer side at a position shifted from the center toward the first shorter side. The second projected part projects from the second longer side at a position shifted from the center toward the second shorter side.

Abstract: A magnetoresistive element includes a first magnetic layer which includes a first surface and a second surface and has a first standard electrode potential, a second magnetic layer, a barrier layer which is provided between the second magnetic layer and the first surface of the first magnetic layer, and a nonmagnetic cap layer which contacts the second surface of the first magnetic layer and is formed from an alloy of a first metal material and a second metal material, the first metal material having a second standard electrode potential lower than the first standard electrode potential, the second metal material having a third standard electrode potential higher than the first standard electrode potential.

Abstract: An imaging device comprises a select line, a first signal line crossing the select line, and a first pixel provided at a portion corresponding to a crossing portion of the select line and the first signal line, the first pixel comprising a first buffer layer formed on a substrate, a first bolometer film formed on the first buffer layer, made of a compound which undergoes metal-insulator transition, and generating a first temperature detection signal, a first switching element formed on the substrate, selected by a select signal from the select line, and supplying the first temperature detection signal to the first signal line, and a metal wiring connecting a top surface of the first bolometer film to the first switching element.

Abstract: A magnetic memory device includes a first write wiring which runs in a first direction, a second write wiring which runs in a second direction different from the first direction, and a magnetoresistive element which is arranged at an intersection between the first and second write wirings, has a fixed layer, a recording layer, and a magnetoresistive layer sandwiched between the fixed layer and the recording layer, and has an axis of easy magnetization obliquely with respect to the first and second directions, the recording layer including a first ferromagnetic layer, a second ferromagnetic layer, and a first nonmagnetic layer sandwiched between the first and second ferromagnetic layers, in which first magnetization of the first ferromagnetic layer and second magnetization of the second ferromagnetic layer are ferromagnetically coupled, and a ferro-coupling constant C of a ferromagnetic coupling is 0.0001 erg/cm2?C?0.2 erg/cm2.

Abstract: A magnetoresistive effect device includes a first ferromagnetic layer having a fixed magnetization direction and having magnetic moment ml per unit area. A nonmagnetic layer contacts with the first ferromagnetic layer and has an amplitude hi of roughness of an interface between the nonmagnetic layer and the first ferromagnetic layer. A second ferromagnetic layer contacts with the nonmagnetic layer, has a fixed magnetization direction, has magnetic moment m2 per unit area which is smaller than the magnetic moment m1, and has an amplitude h2 of roughness of an interface between the second ferromagnetic layer and the nonmagnetic layer. A barrier layer contacts with the second ferromagnetic layer, and has an amplitude h3, which is smaller than the amplitudes h1 and h2, of roughness of an interface between the barrier layer and the second ferromagnetic layer. A third ferromagnetic layer contacts with the barrier layer and has a variable magnetization direction.

Abstract: The magnetic memory includes a plurality of memory cells, each memory cell including: at least one writing wire; at least one data storage portion, provided on at least one portion of an outer periphery of the writing wire, which comprises a ferromagnetic material whose magnetization direction can be inverted by causing a current to flow in the writing wire; and at least one magneto-resistance effect element, disposed in the vicinity of the data storage portion, which senses the magnetization direction of the data storage portion.

Abstract: A magnetoresistive element includes a first ferromagnetic layer having a first magnetization, the first magnetization having a first pattern when the magnetoresistive element is half-selected during a first data write, a second pattern when the magnetoresistive element is selected during a second data write, and a third pattern of residual magnetization, the first pattern being different from the second and third pattern, a second ferromagnetic layer having a second magnetization, and a nonmagnetic layer arranged between the first ferromagnetic layer and the second ferromagnetic layer and having a tunnel conductance changing dependent on a relative angle between the first magnetization and the second magnetization.

Abstract: An imaging device comprises a select line, a first signal line crossing the select line, and a first pixel provided at a portion corresponding to a crossing portion of the select line and the first signal line, the first pixel comprising a first buffer layer formed on a substrate, a first bolometer film formed on the first buffer layer, made of a compound which undergoes metal-insulator transition, and generating a first temperature detection signal, a first switching element formed on the substrate, selected by a select signal from the select line, and supplying the first temperature detection signal to the first signal line, and a metal wiring connecting a top surface of the first bolometer film to the first switching element.

Abstract: An imaging device comprises a select line, a first signal line crossing the select line, and a first pixel provided at a portion corresponding to a crossing portion of the select line and the first signal line, the first pixel comprising a first buffer layer formed on a substrate, a first bolometer film formed on the first buffer layer, made of a compound which undergoes metal-insulator transition, and generating a first temperature detection signal, a first switching element formed on the substrate, selected by a select signal from the select line, and supplying the first temperature detection signal to the first signal line, and a metal wiring connecting a top surface of the first bolometer film to the first switching element.

Abstract: The number of read errors can be reduced, and a large read signal can be produced.

Abstract: An imaging device comprises a select line, a first signal line crossing the select line, and a first pixel provided at a portion corresponding to a crossing portion of the select line and the first signal line, the first pixel comprising a first buffer layer formed on a substrate, a first bolometer film formed on the first buffer layer, made of a compound which undergoes metal-insulator transition, and generating a first temperature detection signal, a first switching element formed on the substrate, selected by a select signal from the select line, and supplying the first temperature detection signal to the first signal line, and a metal wiring connecting a top surface of the first bolometer film to the first switching element.

Abstract: The magnetic memory includes a plurality of memory cells, each memory cell including: at least one writing wire; at least one data storage portion, provided on at least one portion of an outer periphery of the writing wire, which comprises a ferromagnetic material whose magnetization direction can be inverted by causing a current to flow in the writing wire; and at least one magneto-resistance effect element, disposed in the vicinity of the data storage portion, which senses the magnetization direction of the data storage portion.

Abstract: A superconducting element is disclosed which comprises a lower superconducting layer, an upper superconducting layer, and an intermediate layer interposed between the lower and upper superconducting layers. The lower and upper superconducting layers are both form of a superconducting cuprate. The intermediate layer is formed of a layered cuprate containing in the crystal structure thereof multiple fluorite blocks represented by the formula:[B]AE.sub.2 (RE1.sub.1-y RE2.sub.y).sub.m+1 Cu.sub.2 O.sub.z(wherein [B] stands for a block layer, AE for an alkaline earth element, RE1 for at least one element selected from the group consisting of lanthanide elements and actinoid elements which form ions of valency of larger than 3, RE2 for at least one element selected from the group consisting of lanthanide elements which form ions of valency of 3 and yttrium, m for a number satisfying the expression m.gtoreq.2, y for a number satisfying the expression 0.ltoreq.y<1, and z for the oxygen content).

Abstract: In a reversible memory system, a pulsed laser beam generated from a laser unit is directed to a recording layer formed on a substrate 1. The recording layer essentially consists of a recording medium, for example, an iron-nickel alloy containing iron as a major component and 27 to 30 atomic % of nickel, which undergoes martensite transformation from a low-temperature phase to a high-temperature phase at a predetermined temperature Af and which undergoes a stress-induced transformation at a characteristic temperature Md. When a region of the recording layer is irradiated with the laser beam having a predetermined intensity, the region undergoes a stress-induced transformation so that the region is changed from the high temperature phase to the low temperature phase.

Abstract: There is disclosed a bubble-mode data-rewritable optical disc, which has a transparent substrate and a recording layer, formed on the substrate, for storing data to be optically rewritable. The substrate is at least partially formed of an organic material, which releases a gas component when it is heated at a radiation region of a data recording light beam. The recording layer is deposited on the substrate by co-sputtering or co-vacuum evaporation. The recording layer is made of a specific amorphous material containing silicon and fine metal particles. When the gas component is released from the substrate, the recording layer is deformed to be locally peeled off out of the substrate by pressure of the gas component, thus forming a protuberance. In a data erasing mode, a data erasing light beam is radiated onto the recording layer, which is then deformed so as to cause the protuberance to disappear, and has a substantially flat surface, thereby erasing the stored information.

Abstract: A rewritable information recording medium which has a recording layer containing a Group I transition element and a Group IV representative elements of the Periodic Table as two principal element and a support substrate for physically supporting the recording layer, and an information-write, -read, and erase method using this recording medium. When the recording layer is immediately cooled after it is heated up to near a eutectic temperature of the two principal elements, two metastable phases having different energy levels appear. A state in the first metastable phase of the higher energy level has a reflectivity sufficiently higher than that of a state of a mixed phase including the second metastable phase of the lower energy level, or that of the equilibrium state. The state in the first metastable phase can be obtained by heating a recording layer in another state by light beam irradiation.