February 2011

Everspin announced that BMW is using their 4Mb MRAM chip (MR2A16AMYS35) in their super bike. Everspin's say that their MRAM products meet the demands of AEC-Q100 standards that are associated with a variety of automotive applications (engine control units, advanced transmission control, in-car data log and multimedia systems for in-car entertainment).

BMW is using the memory chip in their Motorrad Motorsport engine control unit (ECU) called RSM5, storing important calibration data that controls the motorcycle during a race. The MRAM chip stores adjustable engine parameters such as data related to a racing bike’s fuel injection, ignition, braking and acceleration, and is optimized before each race - with different parameters according to the river, track and race conditions.

Researchers from the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering and the National University of Singapore have developed an improved design for a Graphene based field-effect transistor (FET).

The new device includes an additional silicon dioxide (SiO2) dielectric gate below the graphene layer. This allows for simplified bit writing by providing an additional background source of charge carriers and paves the way towards nonvolatile Graphene-based memory.