EE Times:
Renesas seeks to commercialize MRAM
Mark LaPedus
EE Times
(10/14/2008 9:09 AM EDT)
SAN DIEGO -- At one time, MRAM technology was hot. But recently, MRAM has fallen out of favor in the market, because the technology has taken longer than expected to commercialize. And it's unclear if MRAMs will live up to their promises as a ''universal memory.''
As a result, Cypress Semiconductor Inc. exited the MRAM market some time ago. IBM Corp. and Infineon Technologies AG sold their MRAM venture. And Freescale Semiconductor Inc. will spin off its MRAM business as an independent company, thereby ridding itself of the technology.
NEC, several startups and others continue to pursue MRAM. Another company, Japan's Renesas Technology Corp. (Tokyo), continues to move full speed in the area. At its Developers' Conference here, Renesas gave a progress report on its MRAM project, saying it plans to roll out the technology in 2010.
For some time, Renesas has been developing MRAM. In 2005, Renesas and startup Grandis Inc. (Milpitas, Calif.) said they would collaborate to develop MRAMs using Grandis' spin torque transfer writing technology. MRAM has fast read/write, un-limited endurance and nonvolatility, making it a top contender among next-generation memories.
Renesas claims to have already devised a 130-nm MRAM, which is a four-level-metal technology with a cell size of 0.81-micron2 and a standby current of zero.
But on its roadmap, the company will first commercialize an MRAM product, based on 90-nm technology that operates from 100-to-150-MHz. Slated for 2010, the device is geared for embedded memory applications in the company's core microcontroller market, said Katsuhiro Tsukamoto, president and chief operating officer at Renesas.
A 65-nm, 200-MHz MRAM is due out in 2012. The company's MRAM technology is positioned as a ''universal memory,'' which features the advantages of non-volatile and random-access memory, Tsukamoto told EE Times.
MRAM is one of the company's three embedded memory technologies for its bread-and-butter MCU lines. MRAM is positioned at the high end.
For low-power and low-voltage applications, the company is currently shipping an embedded, flash-based NOR technology for its MCUs, based on a 130-nm process. A 1.8-volt version is due out by year's end.
For high-speed applications, it is also shipping an embedded memory technology for its MCU lines, based on a metal-oxide nitride oxide silicon (MONOS) process. It is shipping a 90-nm, 100-MHz version, with a 65-nm flavor due out in 2012.
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