MRAM-Info: the MRAM experts

Spin Memory (previously Spin Transfer Technologies) announced that it has developed a new innovative technology, called the Universal Selector, which will significantly improve the capabilities of existing and emerging memory technologies (including MRAM, DRAM and ReRAM) as it enables a novel way to design vertical cell transistors which achieves higher levels of performance, reliability and density.

Spin Memory’s Universal Selector is a selective, vertical epitaxial cell transistor whose channel has a low enough doping concentration that it operates in full depletion. For MRAM memory, the Universal Selector enables manufacturers to create 1T1R memory bitcells of 6F2 – 10F2 (6F2 – 10F2), enabling manufacturers to embed up to five times more memory in the same area footprint with minimal additional wafer processing costs.

Everspin Technologies reported its financial results for Q2 2020. Total revenues reached $11.8 million, up 37% from Q2 2019, and the GAAP net loss was $1.3 million (compared to a net loss of $3.7 million in Q2 2019). Cash and equivalents at the end of Q2 2020 were $12.9 million.

Everspin says it has extended its momentum into the second quarter, with record revenues of its 1Gb STT-MRAM product. Looking into Q3, Everspin says it sees a delay in new product introduction plans by customers, and so sees its revenues between $10 million and $10.8 million.

Spin Memory (previously Spin Transfer Technologies) announced that it has raised $8.3 million in an extension to its Series B funding. The company's recent investors in the company participated in this round, out of which Allied Minds invested $4 million.

The new funding includes Arm, Applied Ventures (the VC arm of Applied Materials) and Abies Ventures. Spin Memory says that the additional funding will support the company's MRAM R&D.

Digitimes reports that Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has been developing spin-orbit torque MRAM (SOT-MRAM) for many years, and is now transferring this technology to local chipmakers in Taiwan.

According to Digitimes , ITRI has established a platform for its SOT-MRAM technology certification and trial runs on 8-inch wafers. The report does not detail which companies are licensing ITRI's technology.

Researchers from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have managed to drastically incraese the speed of MRAM devices while reducing the power consumption by adding a layer of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) to MRAM devices.

The YSZ layer, which has high ion conductivity helps inject hydrogen ions into the MRAM cell. This resulted in an increase in the speed of the spin alignment direction changes 100-fold.

This is a sponsored post by Integral Solutions Int'l

MRAM is likely to be the most promising next-generation non-volatile memory technology today. Toggle MRAM and STT-MRAM are already entering the market, gaining market share in many applications. Next-generation MRAM technologies, such as SOT-MRAM could enable the replacement of even the fastest SRAM applications, with higher densities.

Source: Coughlin Associates, 2019

The MRAM production process has many stages, as device architecture is relatively complex, with a magnetic cell (frontplane) fabricated on top of a CMOS backplane. (use Figure 2 or Figure 3 from Coughlin). Measurement and characterization of devices are highly important, and the production of MRAM memories depend on measurement tools are are specialized for MRAM and STT-MRAM measurements.

Researchers from the University of Arizona discovered that in common Magnetic Tunnel Junctions (MTJ), there's a thin (2D) layer of Iron Oxide. This layer was found to act as a contaminant which lowers the performance achieved by MTJs, but it may also hold the key to use antiferromagnetism in MRAM devices.

The researchers discovered that the layer behaves as a so-called antiferromagnet at extremely cold temperatures (below -245 degrees Celsius). Antiferromagnets are promising as these can be manipulated at Terahertz frequencies, about 1,000 times faster than existing, silicon-based technology. This is the first research that shows how Antiferromagnets can be controlled as part of MTJs and in the future may pave the way for its adoption in MRAM devices.