Everspin - Page 13

Everspin is gearing up to introduce their upcoming STT-MRAM products in 2012, and the company announced that they have partnered with Cadence to provide ;memory model verification IP for these products. The new memory models are already available as part of the Cadence Verification IP Catalog. Everspin says they are working with several partners to ensure design-in tools are available as well.

STT-MRAM requires less current to write info into the memory cell, which leads to higher densities. Everspin's current highest-density Toggle-MRAM product is a 16Mb chip, and we expect their STT-MRAM products to be much higher in density, which will open new markets and applications.

Mouser Electronics announced it will start distributing Everspin's MRAM products worldwide. Mouser has 17 global support locations and has over 2 million "orderable part numbers" in their catalog. The Everspin-Mouser agreement was signed back in may 2011, but it seems that now Mouser will indeed start offering MRAM chips.

Kontron announces a new AdvancedMC (AMC) processor module, the AM4120. It has a 1.2Ghz QorQI P2020 Freescale processor, 2GB or 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, four SERDES lines, three Ethernet channels (gigabit). It also includes 128KB or 512KB of MRAM memory.

Digikey, an electronic conponents distributer now lists Everspin's MR2A16 4Mb MRAM chips. Prices range from $30.5 down to $20.98 (if you buy 500 or more units). 

EverSpin MR2A16 Chips

Everspin said that they see rapid growth in MRAM sales, and the company expects to sell over 3.5 million MRAM chips in 2011. The company sold their millionth MRAM chip in 3Q 2010, and since then sold another million.

Everspin expects the growth to continue at the same pace in 2012 - as they scored several new design wins.

Here's a nice short video interview with Phillip LoPresti, Everspin's CEO, talking about MRAM, Everspin and current applications (including the BMW super-bike). Phillip says that Everspin shipped over 1.5 million chips to date, and they hope to triple or even quadruple this number in 2011 alone:

Everspin announced that BMW is using their 4Mb MRAM chip (MR2A16AMYS35) in their super bike. Everspin's say that their MRAM products meet the demands of AEC-Q100 standards that are associated with a variety of automotive applications (engine control units, advanced transmission control, in-car data log and multimedia systems for in-car entertainment).

BMW is using the memory chip in their Motorrad Motorsport engine control unit (ECU) called RSM5, storing important calibration data that controls the motorcycle during a race. The MRAM chip stores adjustable engine parameters such as data related to a racing bike’s fuel injection, ignition, braking and acceleration, and is optimized before each race - with different parameters according to the river, track and race conditions.

Everspin and Future Electronics expanded their distribution agreement to include Asia and Japan. In addition, Everspin is elevated to "Registered Supplier" status. This places Everspin's MRAM at the top of the list of solutions for a wide range of markets including enterprise storage, datacom/telecom, industrial automation, transportation, gaming and energy management.

NVE reported their financial results, and in the conference call they gave some interesting new details about their MRAM program. Daniel Baker (the CEO) says that NVE 'overcame many of the technical challenges in making MRAM'. In fact, the company is already shipped some sample prototype MRAM chips, but they don't call it 'production' yet. The samples will be for specialized niche applications - but the company sees this as a 'vehicle to develop MRAM technology'. In the future the company hopes to address large volume anti-tamper applications such as to prevent identity theft or improve the security of credit cards and smart cards.

In regards to Everspin being a licensee, here's what they say - "EverSpin is a company that's making and selling commercial MRAM, and they are spin-off of Freescale, which was a spin-off of Motorola. So, we have a long historical relationship. Motorola was an early investor in NVE, and we had research contracts and intellectual property agreements with Motorola. So, we believe that they share our vision for a very bright future for MRAM"

Everspin announced a new product, the MR25H40. It's a 4Mb MRAM with a fast, simple Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI). The MR25H40 requires no write delay, runs at clock speeds as fast as 40 MHz, and provides automatic data protection on power loss and unlimited endurance with more than 20 years data retention. This new chip is the highest density SPI MRAM (Everspin also offers 256Kb and 1Mb SPI MRAM). Samples of this chip are now available in industrial (-40°C to 85°C) temperature grades.

The MR25H40 MRAM product operates from 3.0 to 3.6 volts while offering low standby and operating currents as well as a sleep mode to further reduce system power consumption. The device is byte-organized internally, containing 4096 Kb of data. Industry-standard serial SPI command codes and timing enable easy connection to existing MCU and system designs. The MR25H40 is available in a small footprint 5mm x 6mm, 8-pin DFN package or an easily mounted 300 mil 8-pin DIP, which are both RoHS-compliant and are pin-out and footprint compatible with serial EEPROM, Flash and FeRAM products.