July 2009

There's an interesting article at Tech-On, by NEC, on their MRAM-based magnetic flip flip (MFF). NEC say that using such flip-flops can make low power  'standby' mode for appliances (TVs, computers, portable devices...).

Today, for example, LCD TVs have two kinds of standby - "fast standby" which consumes as much as 15W, and 'slow standby' that may consume as low as 0.1W, but may take a few seconds to show a picture when powered back on. The MFF might make it possible to design a stand-by mode that is both fast to power on, and uses minimal power.

ReportLinker has released a new report which analyzes the global Market for nano-memory in Millions of US$. The types of Nanomemory technologies discussed in the report include: Ferroelectric Random Access Memory or FRAM, Magnetoresitive Random Access Memory or MRAM, Ovonic Unified Memory, Holographic Memory, Nano-RAM or NRAM, Molecular Memory, and Polymer memory.

Annual forecasts are provided for the period of 2010 through 2015. The report profiles 40 companies including many key and niche players worldwide.

Emerson Network Power says they will use Everspin's 4Mb MRAM in three of their newest high-performance single-board computers (the MVME7100 and MVME4100 VMEbus boards and CPC16200 CompactPCI board).

EverSpin MR2A16 Chips

Emerson's boards are used in industrial, medical, military, aerospace and advanced telecom platforms. 

Everspin says that in secure applications, their MRAM is capable of holding both security keys and the security algorithms that can be updated frequently during operation without concern for memory wear-out like traditional Flash memory. In addition, MRAM can be erased in just milliseconds if a concern or compromising situation occurs, minimizing potential threats to security.

We're happy to announce a new addition to the Metalgrass site network: Graphene-Info. Graphene is a sheet, one-atom-thick of carbon atom, in a honeycomb crystal lattice. If you use many layers of graphene, stacked one on top of the other, you’ll get Graphite. Graphene has many uses - Spintronics, sensors, ICs (for example a transparent backplane for OLEDs), ultra-capacitors and more.

We hope you'll enjoy the new site...

Avalanche Technology and Integral Solutions International (ISI) have designed a Wafer Level Analyzer, the WLA-3000, to be used in STT-MRAM development.

The WLA-3000 includes specific hardware test modules including nS-range Pulse Generator that quickly measures switching currentse of MTJ devices in STT-MRAM as a function of Pulse Width. Using this Pulse Generator module, customers will be able to perform Error Rate, Switching Probability, Endurance Testing, and Read/Write Disturb analysis in a fraction of time as compared to other slower pulsers.

The WLA-3000 system is fully compatible with ISI’s FMRA-2008 Ferromagnetic Resonance Analyzer to offer the worlds most advanced and complete MTJ sensor analysis.

Riber has launched a new innovative robotic system, the MPVD300 reactor.  Based on a high vacuum deposition system (UHV) and compatible with existing silicon FAB industry standards, the MPVD 300 provides unrivalled precision of control and composition uniformity defects of less than 1% over 300mm (monoatomic layer precision).

Riber sayst he new machine willhelp make new ultra-fast microprocessors and high-capacity MRAM.

Fully automated, Riber's MPVD300 is the only modular system for high vacuum deposition that can beconnected up directly to the silicon production line. The first system will be shipped in July to a major manufacturer in Asia.