MRAM production - Page 11

Micromem Technologies is pleased to announce that it has successfully manufactured foundry grade fully functioning MRAM cells. This culminates an intensive three-year research and development proof of concept phase followed by a foundry phase focused on manufacturability and scalability of our MRAM product. The first phase of the foundry process will be completed in January 2008. Our development team at Strategic Solutions is to be applauded for working closely with the California -based foundry Global Communication Services (GCS) to meet the aggressive schedule that the Company initiated in the fall of 2007.

Reference is made to the September 17, 2007 press release wherein the Company described the Reticle Design and Test Plan. The initial foundry phase has generated an extensive amount of statistically validated MRAM performance data in accordance with the scheduled Test Plan. During January 2008 the Company will be analyzing this large data set. Initial data review indicates that the Test Plan was successful and the data set is rich with scalable data that indicates a clear path to an optimized MRAM cell design.

Freescale Semiconductor today announced the industrial and extended temperature qualification of its award-winning magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) products. Freescale's entire 1Mbit, 2Mbit and 4Mbit MRAM families are now available at commercial (0 C to 70 C), industrial (0 C to 85 C) and extended (-40 C to105 C) temperature ranges.

The industrial and extended temperature range MRAM devices are designed to be used in rugged application environments, such as industrial, military, aerospace and automotive designs. The commercial MRAM devices are intended for less environmentally demanding applications, such as networking, security, data storage, gaming and printers.

“Freescale is dedicated to expanding the market for MRAM into all market segments,” said David Bondurant, MRAM product manger at Freescale. “Extended temperature qualification of MRAM demonstrates our industry-leading reliability when compared to other non-volatile memory products.”

MRAM offers exceptional price/performance within the high-density nvRAM market by combining the best features of non-volatile memory and RAM to enable "instant-on" capability and power loss protection in new classes of intelligent electronic devices. In addition, MRAM devices operate at SRAM speeds over a wide range of temperatures without the need for battery-backup. 

After partnering with IBM in August, TDK now plans to produce high-capacity MRAM chips in 2008. It plans to make even higher-density chips in 2011.

Freescale Semiconductor, a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors, has introduced a series of 2Mbit magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) devices, providing designers a broader portfolio of MRAM products for a range of commercial, industrial and automotive applications. The 2Mbit MRAM replaces two current 1Mbit nvRAM parts with a single device designed to help reduce system cost and board area.

The 2Mbit devices round out Freescale's award-winning MRAM family of products with a choice of commercial, industrial and extended temperature ranges (operating from -40o to 105oC). MRAM devices are well-suited for a variety of applications, such as networking, security, data storage, gaming and printers. The extended temperature version is suitable for use in rugged application environments, such as military, aerospace and automotive designs.

Freescale Semiconductor has expanded its award-winning MRAM family with the world's first 3-volt 4Mbit extended temperature range (-40 to +105°C) non-volatile RAM (nvRAM) product. This device enables entry into more rugged application environments, such as industrial, military and aerospace and automotive designs.

Freescale also has broadened its commercial MRAM line with a 1Mbit device, offering system designers a density option that addresses the sweet spot of the mainstream embedded market. In addition, Freescale plans to expand its MRAM product family to include a total of nine commercial, industrial and extended temperature products during the third quarter of 2007.

Honeywell announced today that it has developed a new line of sophisticated electronic components designed specifically to meet the stringent reliability requirements for computers operating in technically advanced military and commercial aerospace conditions.

One of the products is HXNVO100 -The first non volatile Magnetic RAM (MRAM) to combine SOI CMOS technology with magnetic thin films. The HXNVO100 is a one-million bit MRAM for strategic space electronics applications and can be used as a replacement for plated wire memory, as the program memory function.

Honeywell has developed a one-million bit non volatile static memory component for strategic space electronics applications (see related story). Built with Honeywell's radiation-hardened, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, and combined with magnetic thin films, the new memory component provides high reliability for low-voltage systems operating in radiation environments.

The magnetic RAM runs from a 3.3-volt power supply and has high reliability, enabling it to operate through the natural radiation found in space. It offers nearly unlimited read/write cycles (>1e15) and uses Honeywell's 150-nanometer SOI CMOS technology as well as a unique set of wafer processes developed at the company's "Trusted Foundry" in Plymouth, Minn.

Forty customers have bought samples of the 4M-bit chips, which Freescale sells for US$25 each in sample quantities of less than 1,000. Two of them are now buying production quantities, the company said.

Pricing for production quantities "is negotiated case by case," said Wild. He compared the price of the chips to that of DRAM (dynamic RAM), the memory used in computers. "In 1974, 1M bit of DRAM cost $75,000. Today, it's a small fraction of a cent. There's no reason why MRAM should not make the same evolution, if not faster," he said.

Freescale made the 4M-bit chips using its 180-nanometer process technology, and said it has produced 16M-bit parts in its labs using a 90-nm process. As Freescale reduces the size of the features on the chips, it increases their density and capacity.

"We have shown we can do it down to 65 nm and beyond," said Wild.