STT-MRAM - Page 14

Coughlin Associates released a new report on non-volatile memory and storage technologies. The authors see MRAM and STT-MRAM replacing SRAM and DRAM within the next few years - and probably before RRAM replaces flash memory. MRAM advances quickly and this will result in lower prices which will make the technology very competitive.

Coughlin projects that MRAM and STT-MRAM annual shipping capacity will rise from an about 80 TB in 2013 to 16.5 PB in 2019. Revenues will increase from $190 million in 2013 to $2.1 billion in 2019. This will obviously require more production capacity and the MRAM manufacturing equipment market (not including the CMOS creation) will rise from $52.9 million in 2013 to $246.3 million in 2019.

Back in June 2013 Samsung Electronics launched a global research outreach program aimed towards STT-MRAM innovation. The Samsung Global MRAM Innovation (SGMI) wanted wanted to reach out to colleges, universities and research labs from all over the world to explore breakthrough and innovative STT-MRAM research.

Samsung ran a short ad campaign on MRAM-Info and Spintronics-Info to help discover partners. Samsung informed us that they received lots of best and most novel proposals on a range of compelling research subjects. They are now collaborating with 15 SGMI partners. Hopefully we'll someday hear of the advances made through these collaborations.

Avalanche Technology has been awarded four key "milestone" patents for its STT-MRAM technology and solid-state storage array system design. Avalanche has over 200 filed patents that covers the full spectrum from memory cell/circuit design and manufacturing to solid-state storage system development and deployment.

Avalanche (founded in 2006 and based in California, US) developed patented Spin Programmable STT-MRAM (SPMEM) memory that uses a revolutionary proprietary spin current and voltage switching technology. The company wants to license their technology for embedded applications and also build discrete standalone memory devices. In July 2012 the company raised $30 million.

MicroSense announced that they installed a full suite of STT-MRAM magnetic metrology tools at a leading edge semiconductor manufacturer. These metrology systems characterize the magnetic properties of multi-layer 300 mm wafers or coupons used in the development and manufacturing of Perpendicular and In-Plane STT-MRAM.

The company says that this is the first time a major customer ordered a full suite of their tools to use in an STT-MRAM program. This order includes a Polar Kerr system for 200mm or 300mm Perpendicular STT-MRAM wafers and a KerrMapper tool for 200mm or 300mm In-plane STT-MRAM wafers. MicroSense's EZ Vibrating Sample Magnetometer measures sample coupons from Perpendicular or In-Plane STT-MRAM wafers.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore developed a new MRAM device structure technology that may prove to be easier to implement and have high reliability compared to current MRAM structures.

The researchers explain that current MRAM uses horizontal (in-plane) current-induced magnetization. This requires ultra-thin ferromagnetic structures which are challenging to implement and also suffer from low reliability. The new design uses magnetic multilayer structures as thick as 20 nanometer, providing an alternative film structure for transmission of electronic data and storage.

Integral Solutions International (ISI) announced a new module the WLA-3000 STT-MRAM Wafer Level Analyzer, the Gen3 Pulser. The new module is optimally matched with its proprietary probecard interface to produce programmable pulses as low as 5nS, with in-situ ability to perform ultra-fast measurements on the MTJs after pulsing.

The tester can be equipped with either the single or dual-channel pulse generator modules for improved UPH. The Gen3 Pulser module was redesigned to speed up Pulse related tests by an order of magnitude and features new Error Rate test (it can measure Error Rate of 10^6 in approximately 2 seconds). It is noew possible to characterize error rate as a function of VBias, Pulse Width/Amplitude, Field and other sweep parameters.

Toshiba announced a new computing architecture that uses only STT-MRAM to perform both operations and storage. The idea support computing capability, register file, primary cache and secondary cache all on the same perpendicular STT-MRAM, and Toshiba says it could lead to CPUs that are drastically faster and more efficient.

Toshiba explains that in the new architecture, the results of operations (answers) that correspond to combinations of certain inputs are prepared in advance in the form of a table and stored in the memory. In response to an input, an answer is read out of the memory. This is equivalent to an operation carried out by a CPU. Because the computation answer is read once, it drastically improves processing speed and power consumption.

Buffalo Memory launched a new industrial SATA III SSD (the S6C series) that uses Everspin's STT-MRAM as cache memory. As far as we know, this is the first product on the market to use STT-MRAM chips. Buffalo says that by using STT-MRAM cache, they were able to improve performance (access time) and power consumption, and also feature better tolerance to sudden power off.

Buffalo's SSD use Everspin's EMD3D064M 64Mb DDR3 ST-MRAM chips. These feature full DDR3 speed coupled with non-volatility. The EMD3D064M chip is functionally compatible with the industry standard JEDEC specification for the DDR3 interface, providing designers the ability to quickly adopt ST-MRAM in storage and embedded systems.

Crocus Technology filed an Inter Partes Review petition to the US PTO, claiming that US patent #6,980,469 describes a technology already used in prior art, in particular in the patent portfolio of Crocus. The patent in question describes a high-speed low power magnetic devices based on current induced spin-moment transfer, and is owned by New York University (although crocus says in their PR that it is owned by Spin Transfer Technologies (STT).

Crocus currently holds 154 patents, describing their Magnetic Logic unit (MLU) design and manufacturing as well as generic technologies like STT (Spin Torque Transfer).

Everspin Technologies announced today that they closed a Series B financing, raising $15 million from venture capital firms including New Venture Partners, Sigma Partners, Lux Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Epic Ventures. The money will be used to launch their first ST-MRAM products (hopefully by 2013).

Everspin ST-MRAM chips

Everspin also announced that they sold over 10 million MRAM chips. In the end of 2011 the company said they sold 4 million chips. They actually hoped to sell 5 million chips in 2012 which means that the current rate is actually lower than expected (if they only now reached 10 million chips) - but still this is an impressive milestone for MRAM technology (Everspin is still the only company shipping commercial MRAM chips).