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Strategies & Market Trends : Rande Is . . . HOME -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rande Is who wrote (22621)	3/27/2000 3:44:00 PM
From: Paullie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57584

Rande, I have been watching TDY (spun of from Allegheny in the fall). Did some DD this weekend. I finally made the plunge late in the day today. I would like your opinion of the company. I am sure others would also. For those who do not know TDY is a technology company which has numerous divisions to include one that makes a component for ADAP. I feel it is being played as a part of the wireless/optical/fiber plays, however, it had a PE of 8 (probably around 18 now.) Only down side that I have found is a lack of projected growth rate. PE should be higher, just not sure how high. I feel it is relatively undiscovered since the spin off. Anyway, Rande, thoughts on TDY? Thanks. paullie

To: Rande Is who wrote (22621)	3/29/2000 7:15:00 PM
From: Andretti	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57584

RMTR related article: eet.com Fujitsu sets production sked for 1-Mbit FRAM By Anthony Cataldo EE Times (03/28/00, 3:42 p.m. EST) TOKYO ? Fujitsu Ltd. is preparing to sample a 1-Mbit ferroelectric RAM this August and to have the part in volume production this December. The prospect of pushing FRAM beyond 256 kbits, along with the promise of technical breakthroughs in voltage level and other aspects of manufacturing, has revived confidence among the technology's backers that FRAM will soon break out from its niche status. Fujitsu, which began volume production of FRAMs late last year, has been working with Ramtron International Corp. (Colorado Springs, Colo.) on a one-transistor, one-capacitor FRAM cell since 1996, and the partners recently announced their first 1-Mbit prototype. Ramtron is also working with Toshiba Corp. on a 1T/1C FRAM cell. Toshiba has installed a 0.25-micron fab line for FRAM, but a spokeswoman said the company is uncertain when mass production will begin. For its part, Fujitsu is making plans to migrate from a 0.5-micron process technology to a 0.35-micron process. That will enable it to produce FRAMs with densities of 2 to 4 Mbits, said a Fujitsu spokesman. The company is targeting IC cards used as bus passes and library cards, applications where FRAMs are already being tapped due to the technology's fast-write capability and high endurance. There's also evidence that FRAM is being adopted by some high-volume consumer applications, such as Sony Computer Entertainment's Playstation 2. Masamichi Ogura, group president of the administrative and business promotion section of Fujitsu's Electronic Devices Group, said that Playstation is using Fujitsu's FRAM as part of the flash-memory card slot, though the company declined to comment more specifically on how it is being used. Though FRAM proponents have long touted the technology's non-volatility, high endurance and fast access speeds, manufacturing problems have stalled its acceptance. The large cell size, additional process steps and unstable nature of the high-k materials used for FRAMs have kept yields low, forcing vendors to make low-density devices to get a higher return on each wafer produced. Another handicap is that FRAMs need a 5-V supply voltage, which limits their penetration in mobile applications. Ramtron hopes to correct this soon, and recently announced that all future products based on its most advanced 0.5-micron ferroelectric process will be 3-V compatible. However, to gain acceptance in high-volume portable devices such as cellular phones, Ramtron and its partners will need to knock down the voltage to at least 1.8 V, said Mike Alwais, director of marketing for Ramtron's FRAM product line. "[FRAM] inherently needs about a volt, but you have to achieve the capability of the material in the end product," he said. "There's manufacturing considerations in getting from what you get in the lab to the end chip." Having developed a reliable process for a 1T/1C FRAM cell, Fujitsu and Ramtron hope to break the manufacturing jinx. FRAMs today use two capacitors per cell to distinguish electrical levels, with one capacitor acting as a fixed reference. With the 1T/1C cell, the FRAM uses one reference for the entire chip. Digital data is then determined by the differences in the electrical levels between the memory cell capacitor and the reference electrical level, according to the companies. Fujitsu, Ramtron and other companies like Toshiba have been trying to perfect 1T/1C cells for years but making the process stable has proved difficult. With the 2T/2C design, "each bit had its own reference, and we had a good copy of the information next door so we could make the comparison easily," said Alwais. "Now there's a global reference and a need for a better process because there's half as much signal. Each bit does not have its own reference; there's one for the whole chip." Yield hit The new FRAMs still need additional deposition and etching steps in order to form the high-dielectric PZT capacitors. Because of this, wafer yields do take a hit, but not enough to hold back production. "The technology has proven to be producible and reliable," Alwais said. "The defect densities are a little worse than industry standard, but I think you'll find them to be at production level." Alwais said yields should improve as production levels rise. What's more, FRAM makers will soon be able to piggyback on work being done for 1-Gbit DRAMs, which many believe will need high-k dielectric materials to form smaller capacitors. "Our process has been one in which we've been using equipment tailored to do other things. Now equipment vendors are coming on board because they see the high-dielectric DRAM coming and can use us as a proving ground," Alwais said. Toshiba presented a research paper two years ago describing a 0.5-micron, 1-Mbit FRAM based on a 1T/1C cell, with a chain architecture that promises an additional 60 percent reduction in chip size. Beyond bringing down voltage, the next step is to improve the FRAM's endurance, or the number of read/write cycles that the chip can perform over its life. "We'd like it to be unlimited," Alwais said. "Now it's limited to 1012 but it turns out not to be enough."