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Politics : RAMTRONIAN's Cache Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NightOwl who wrote (14297)	11/18/2008 6:37:31 AM
From: NightOwl	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14464

FUJITSU DEVELOPS MICROCONTROLLER WITH ON-BOARD FRAM Tue. November 18, 2008; Posted: 12:39 AM TOKYO, Nov 18, 2008 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- Fujitsu Microelectronics Ltd., a semiconductor manufacturing subsidiary of Fujitsu Ltd. (TSE:6702), has developed a microcontroller that uses FRAM (ferroelectric random-access memory) instead of flash memory. Microcontrollers are used in a wide variety of consumer electronics products, and a microcontroller that uses FRAM instead of flash consumes around 30 per cent less power because of the way the data is stored to memory. With flash, existing data is first erased and then new data is written. With FRAM, the data is simply overwritten. The result is that FRAM memory is updated roughly 30 times faster than flash memory, so the microcontroller can carry out instructions without wasting clock cycles waiting for memory to update. The unit of Fujitsu Ltd. (TSE:6702) decided to adopt FRAM for microcontrollers after evaluating their reliability in contactless smart cards. For integration on the microcontroller chip, the company used FRAM made with a 0.35 micron design rule. Fujitsu Microelectronics will ship samples starting Friday priced at 1,000 yen (US$10) apiece and plans to start producing the chip in fiscal 2009 at a rate of 4 million units that year. tradingmarkets.com Don't know how many bits they plan for this microcontroller line but if it extends to the 32 bit generation it might be significant. 0\|0

To: NightOwl who wrote (14297)	11/18/2008 4:45:02 PM
From: NightOwl	Respond to of 14464

Competition for Tegal, but I would still go with ULVAC: Randy Matsuda, senior vice president and general manager of Mattson Technology's Etch Division, said, "We are very pleased to enter into a joint evaluation agreement with this leading memory manufacturer. Mattson already has etch systems employed for volume manufacturing with the customer, and activity to qualify additional applications is underway." Matsuda added, "This agreement further demonstrates our customer's commitment to engage with Mattson for development of future device nodes." Matsuda continued, "Mattson's etch features a proprietary inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source with wafer bias capability that enables independent control of ion energy and ion density at low processing pressures. These features enable the unique capability for controlling device profiles for very fine geometries. Furthermore, our patented Faraday shield technology ensures that the ion can be generated and controlled at very low energy levels -- a capability that greatly differentiates Mattson's technology from other etchers, allowing it to deliver the lowest damage on the wafer surface. As a result of these technology differentiators, our technology is especially suited for etching of dielectrics at fine geometries, and has demonstrated superior 'on-wafer' results on key applications including spacer etch, hard mask open and pad etch." semiconductor.net 0\|0

To: NightOwl who wrote (14297)	11/20/2008 6:55:43 AM
From: NightOwl	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14464

More on the POSTECH/Max Planck, et al., presentation set for the Dec. 4, 2008, "11:00am C10.8" session of the Fall MRS Meeting referenced in an earlier post: High Quality Ferroelectric Memory with Tb/In2 Density Realized by Nanotechnology A joint research between POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) and Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle, has produced an advanced technology applicable to the development of the permanent memory, FeRAM, which can save 176 billion bits per square inch (published in Nature Nanotechnology, vol. 3, page 402). FeRAM has attracted many researchers interest because of its excellent characters such as nonvolatility, fast read and write, and high reliability. However, limitation in realizing large scale integration of ferroelectrics on a single chip has hindered the wide applications of FeRAM. In order to achieve the density of terabit per square inch, the size of ferroelectrics must be less than 25nm. It is well known that ferroelectric properties could be vanished if the size of ferroelectrics reduces down to nano scales: the size effect. Therefore, it is necessary to not only develop a novel method to fabricate nano-sized ferroelectrics, but also to investigate the intrinsic size effects of ferroelectrics in order for the widespread use of the computers containing memories with ultra high density, no booting, and no refresh process to be advanced. In this sense, the development of 65nm sized metal (Pt) - ferroelectric (PZT) - metal (Pt) nanocapacitors is a valuable work for the potential applications of FeRAM. Metal-ferroelectric-metal nanocapacitors were fabricated by stencil method using ultra-thin anodic alumina mask with honeycomb arrayed 65nm sized pores. Firstly, an aluminum plate was electrochemically oxidized. In this process, the 65nm sized pores were self-ordered. When the aluminum is shaped with a punch beforehand, the pores arrange themselves in a completely regular pattern. The anodic alumina mask was then transferred to platinum coated magnesium oxide substrate. By taking advantage of excellent thermal stability of anodic alumina, ferroelectric materials as well as electrode materials could be deposited into the extremely tiny pores at a high temperature. During the entire process, there was no thermal treatment nor use of chemicals or physical damages, resulting in high quality nanocapacitors. By removing the mask after deposition of platinum top electrode material, 176 billion bits per square inch of Pt-PZT-Pt nanocapacitors were obtained. In principle, other materials could be used as well for the ferroelectrics and electrodes as fatigue free capacitors. The success of this project is due to the fruitful Korea- Germany cooperation. The project was supported by the Korea Research Foundation, the ¡®Brain Korea 21 Program¡¯, the Volkswagen Foundation, and the German Research Foundation. Professor Sunggi Baik Department of Materials Science and Engineering Tel: +82-54-279-2001 Fax: +82-54-279-2709 E-mail:sgbaik@postech.ac.kr postech.ac.kr 0\|0