The spin valve, and method of operation of MRAM MRAM

A spin valve includes two layers, a reference layer and a free layer, magnetised perpendicularly to a layer plane and an intermediate layer disposed between the magnetic layers. The reference layer predetermines a preferred orientation of a direction of the magnetisation, is formed from a ferrimagnetic material, and has a higher coercive field strength than the free layer. The free layer is formed from a ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic material. The intermediate layer is electrically conductive or non-conductive. The reference layer and the free layer have a single-domain magnetisation. The reference layer is formed from an alloy comprising a rare earth element and a transition metal. The coercive field strength of the reference layer is set via its composition and is more than 0.8 kA/m. An anisotropy and layer thickness of the reference layer and a coupling constant define an exchange bias field between 0.8 and 80 kA/m.