During a presentation during Persistent Memory Summit, a new slide from TSMC was shown that describes the company's eMRAM roadmap:

As we already know, TSMC is offering 22nm eMRAM option as an eFlash alternative. The company is also looking to develop 14/12 nm eMRAM option to replace SRAM memory (this is interesting as before it was revealed that the company is developing 16nm MRAM). Finally eMRAM is touted as a possible replacement for configuration memory (eFUSE / OTP / Flash).

pMTJ STT-MRAM developer Avalanche Technology announced that it is now shipping new space-grade parallel asynchronous x16-interface high-reliability P-SRAM (Persistent SRAM) memory devices, based on its latest STT-MRAM technology.

Avalanche says that its STT-MRAM devices are smaller and more efficienct compared to Toggle MRAM based products, currently adopted in aerospace applications. The Parallel x16 Space Grade series is offered in 16Mb, 32Mb and 64Mb density options and has asynchronous SRAM compatible 45ns/45ns read/write timings. All three density options currently in production and available within industry standard lead times.

Hprobe, a developer of testing equipment for magnetic devices, announced a 'significant' order for a wafer-level magnetic tester (the company's IBEX tester) from a tier-1 semiconductor manufacturer.

The equipment will be used for research and development of magnetic materials and devices, which represents a very promising technology for MRAM chips and magnetic sensors. The IBEX platform is compatible with 200mm and 300mm automated wafer probers, and is dedicated to testing MRAM magnetic tunnel junctions, bit cells based on STT-MRAM, SOT-MRAM, and Voltage Controlled (VC-MRAM) technologies.

Integral Solutions International (ISI) announced its first shipment of a commercial SOT-MRAM tester system. This new equipment was developed by integrating a commercial pulser with ISI's proprietary bias-tee and measurement electronics.

ISI says that the new tester system generates pulses as narrow as 300pS, suitable for R&D applications which require extremely narrow pulse widths. In parallel, ISI is also developing its proprietary Gen-4 Pulser System, which will provide high-throughput and cost-effective measurement solutions with the flexibility of testing either STT-MRAM or SOT-MRAM devices. The Gen-4 system is expected to be released in the fall of 2021.

Everspin Technologies announced its preliminary Q4 2020 financial results. Total revenues were $10 million, down from $10.1 million in Q3 and up from $9.7 million in Q4 2019. Net loss int he quarter was $1.6 million, but the company generated $0.6 million in cash flow - Everspin's second consecutive positive cash flow from operations quarter.

Looking at FY2020, Everspin's revenues increased 12.1% to $42 million. At the end of the year, Everspin had $14.6 million in cash and equivalents. In Q4 2020, the company also received its first royalty revenue from GF for embedded 22FDX process MRAM.

In March 2019 Samsung Electronics announced that it has started to mass produce its first embedded MRAM, made using the company's 28nm FD-SOI process. The company now announced that it managed to improve the MTJ function of its MRAM, which makes it suitable for more applications.

Samsung will now expand the application of its eMRAM solutions to more markets - specifically the automotive, wearable, graphic memory, low level cache, internet of things and edge artificial intelligence markets.

2020 is soon over - and many in the world are really happy about that and hope that 2021 will bring the COVID-19 pandemic to an end. The entire world was effected, including the MRAM industry, although it seems as if the fast pace of research and development continues.

Here are the top 10 stories posted on MRAM-Info in 2020, ranked by popularity (i.e. how many people read the story):

1. Antiferromagnetic STT-MRAM technology enables efficient and dense memory (Feb 21)
2. GlobalFoundries starts producing eMRAM solutions (Feb 29)
3. Hprobe raises over 2 million Euros (Feb 6)
4. Everspin reports its Q4 2019 financial results (Mar 13)
5. Everspin and Globalfoundries extend their MRAM agreement to 12 nm (Mar 12)
6. Chalcogenide materials can be highly suitable for SOT-MRAM (Feb 18)
7. Everspin announced a restructuring plan to reduced expense (Jan 16)
8. Researchers identify the semimetal MoTe2 as a promising MRAM material (Feb 6)
9. Avalanche's Serial P-SRAM STT-MRAM memory devices are now shipping (Sep 29)
10. New research may hold the key towards antiferromagnetic MRAM (May 13)

On December 15, Everspin Technologies announced that its CEO and President Kevin Conley has resigned. Conley served as CEO in 2017. The company's Chairman Darin Billerbeck will become interim CEO.

Everspin also lowered its guidance for Q4 2020 slightly - from $10.1-$10.9 million to $10.1-$10.5 million. Investors were not pleased and yesterday the stock declined 16%.

IBM announced that during the 2020 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM 2020), that is now being held virtually, its researchers will reveal the first 14 nm node STT-MRAM. IBM says that efficient and high-performance STT-MRAM systems will help to address memory-compute bottlenecks in hybrid cloud systems.

IBM says that the 14 nm node embedded MRAM which will be revealed is the most advanced MRAM demonstrated to date. It features circuit design and process technology that could soon enable system designers to replace SRAM with twice the amount of MRAM in last-level CPU cache.

Researchers from Seoul's National University and Pohang's University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) report that a 2D iron germanium telluride (Fe₃GeTe₂, or FGT) layer is an excellent candidate to be used as the basis SOT-MRAM material.

An SOT-MRAM based on FGT is highly energy-efficient, in fact the researchers say that the measured magnitude of SOT per applied current density is two orders of magnitude larger than the values reported previously for other candidate materials.