MRAM-Info: the MRAM experts

We are happy to announce a new Metalgrass knowledge hub, MicroLED-Info.com. This new site will focus on Micro-LED display technology and its future market. MicroLED is quickly becoming a promising future display technology.

Many expect the first Micro-LED devices to hit the market in the very near future, with first applications in the wearable market - and also in HUDs and HMDs. MicroLED promise great performance, very high efficiency and brightness - but of course there are still many technical challenges ahead.

Seagate demonstrate several new prototypes and technologies at Flash Memory Summit last week, and one of these is the new Nytron 5000B SSD drive that is a high-performance boot drive. The new device has 256GB of 3D MLC NAND and makes use of 1258MB of Everspin's STT-MRAM in addition to a "normal" DRAM cache.

Seagate says that the MRAM can be used as either a write cache for user data or it can be exposed directly as a separate storage namespace for explicit tiered storage. Seagate said that this is currently just a test-platform prototype - and not a preview of an upcoming product.

Everspin announced its financial results for Q2 2017. Revenues for the quarter reached $8.9 million (up from $6.7 million in Q2 2016) and the net loss reached $5.2 million (down slightly from $5.4 million in Q2 2016).

This was a record quarter for Everspin in terms of revenues, which shows the continued growth of its first-gen toggle MRAM. Everspin is now focused on bringing its STT-MRAM to market, and the company announced that its 256Mb STT-MRAM chips entered production to be used in SMART Modular's NVM Express PCIe Card.

Everspin announced its nvNITRO line of storage accelerators back in March 2017, and the company now announces that it has officially launched the new accelerators with 1GB and 2GB capacities, based on the company's 256Mb DDR3 ST-MRAM chips.

Everspin is accepting orders for the new products, which will ship in Q4 2017. The nvNITRO accelerators operate up to 1.5 million IOPS with 6μs end-to-end latency. Everspin is delivering a half-height, halflength (HHHL) PCIe card as well as U.2 form factors; both support NVMe and memory mapped IO (MMIO) access modes.

Everspin announced that it started sampling 1Gb STT-MRAM chips. Everspin's new chips provide a high-endurance, persistant memory with a DDR4-compatible interface. Everspin sees these chips being used in storage devices to provide protection against power loss without the use of supercapacitors or batteries.

Everspin's new pMTJ 1Gb chips provide 4 times the capacity of the company's current 256Mb DDR3 chips. The 1 Gb MRAM is produced in 28nm CMOS on 300mm wafers in partnership with GlobalFoundries.

GlobalFoundries has plans to deploy Everspin's perpendicular (pMTJ) STT-MRAM as an embedded 22nm memory - as part of GF's 22FDX platform. GlobalFoundries has released a technical paper that details the eMRAM ability to retain data at high temperatures.

The eMRAM can retain data through solder reflow at 260 degrees Celsius, and for more than 10 years at 125 degrees Celsius, plus read/write with outstanding endurance at 125 degrees Celsius. GlobalFoundries says that this will enable eMRAM to be used for general purpose MCUs and automotive SOCs.

According to reports, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is aiming to start producing embedded MRAM chips in 2018 using a 22 nm process. This will be initial "risk production" to gauge market reception.

TSMC also aims to start embedded RRAM chip production in 2019.