Micromem

Micromem announced today that they have raised $340,000 Canadian in a private placement.

Micromem says that their Memory (MRAM) product is now complete through the Global-Communication-Semiconductor and BAE Systems foundries. The MRAM is fully packaged in arrays, and it's being tested and evaluated against standard and routine memory tests.

Micromem announced that they have raised 375K$ in a private placement.

They will use the proceeds from the offering for general working capital purposes.

Micromem reports that their MRAM RFID samples will be available by the end of the month. The MRAM arrays are manufactured by Global Communications Semiconductor, and are currently undergoing full performance testing.

Micromem also says that BAE Systems has completed manufacturing of Micromem's wafers. BAE's initial products will also be delivered during December. BAE makes both MRAM arrays and Magnetic Sensors based on Micromem's tech.

As a foundry and business development partner with Micromem Applied Sensor Technologies, BAE Systems’ Microelectronics Center in Nashua, New Hampshire, will further develop Micromem designs and manufacturability for advanced magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) products. The goal is to bring the designs to maturity and begin production of gallium arsenide-based nano-sensors that offer features such as very high-speed and low-power capability, radiation-hardness, and overall robustness.

“Foundry facilities are very expensive, and development work on new products is highly capital-intensive,” said Gino Manzo, foundry director at BAE Systems in Nashua. “This arrangement will advance technology and design maturity for products developed by Micromem by giving both companies the means to produce devices for a wide range of commercial and military uses.”

Micromem Applied Sensor Technologies’ patented submicron nano-sensor, based on MRAM technology, also can be designed for use in highly accurate magnetometers — instruments used to measure the strength and/or direction of magnetic fields — and for threat-detection solutions for defense and homeland security.

Micromem Technologies is pleased to announce that it is fully engaged and conducting business development work in two foundries in the United States. The company expects to enter into a third foundry contract by Q3 2008. Joseph Fuda, the company’s CEO, stated, “With our potential clients beginning to validate our technology and moving towards specific productization  plans for their product lines, it is imperative that we continue to have full access to foundry operations. This will ensure the process of moving from constant innovation to product revenue is accelerated.”

The company has begun manufacturing its magnetic sensors for potential commercial clients. This work is currently underway in the Global Communications Semiconductor (GCS) foundry in Torrence, California. The company expects to deliver the first packaged magnetic sensors for evaluation and characterization some time this summer and anticipates generating sales from these pilot projects. GCS performed exceptionally well in the early productization phase and the management will continue this partnership as it brings sensors and memory arrays to market.

With the productization process fully underway with its partners, Micromem has focused its attention to business development. Management is pursuing licensing revenue and direct revenue from sales and marketing channels for its memory and sensor devices. In a similar vein the company will begin to deliver MRAM memory arrays packaged for specific market place evaluation by Q3 2008.

Joseph Fuda states, “We are now actively responding to and submitting proposals for both commercial and government sectors for memory and sensor applications. The interest that we  have seen for sensors has been incredible and we expect this to be a very exciting and profitable sector for our patented technology. It is important to note this initial project is for a potential client in the sensor market only and is independent of the company’s memory initiatives.”

Micromem Technologies is pleased to announce the company has significantly enhanced its product offering as a result of the foundry success with its MRAM design. With the success of the GaAs version the company can now look to enhance its memory offerings with recently filed patents for silicon germanium and silicon designs. Micromem plans to announce market release dates for each memory option in the future. The company’s sales and marketing effort is now being divided between MRAM and sensors.

Micromem also announces that its foundry success has enabled the company to explore the lucrative magnetic sensor market. The ultra low power, high sensitivity Hall cross sensor, is a strategic component of the non-volatile random access memory design. Based on business development contacts and sharing foundry results with key verticals, Micromem has now expanded its portfolio into the following key markets:

• Defense
• Healthcare
• Mining and mineral exploration
• Manufacturing and quality control/defect detection
• Consumer applications
  

The Phase One foundry time line is now complete. Memory testing data has been shared with the foundry client base. The Phase One foundry scope has proven out the business value of Micromem’s patent portfolio. The company is developing its memory and sensor array products using the same underlying processes.

Micromem Technologies is pleased to announce its Magneto-resistive random access memory (MRAM) is a highly probable candidate for the  universal memory, characterized mainly by high speed (read/write), high density and non-volatility. Micromem has designed a new process architecture for MRAM. We are pleased to announce that our foundry tests have demonstrated a number of valuable advantages for a magnetic-based sensor and memory device: including high sensitivity, thermal stability and simplicity and low cost manufacturing.

"We demonstrated that hysterisis -free operation can be expected for systems incorporating our technology, dynamic range and linear field response is now characterized to depend upon material and geometry and the active element of our Hall cross sensor is the intersection of the Hall bars which can be miniaturized to the lithography limits. No change in sensitivity was detected with the line when reduced from 10 to 0.1 micron."

Micromem now has a new and highly sensitive Hall device fabricated via a simplified process. The comp any has demonstrated that a unique shape of the device design represents the optimum concentration of the sensitivity of the sensor, the measurement range and the overall size of the chip. Initial testing indicates a sensitivity of 2.2 V/T with a minimal bias voltage; the lowest detectable field is 0.2 micro-T, and the linearity of better than 1% in the measurement range. Micromem has patented the unique shape of our sensor with particular emphasis on magnetic yoke form factor and its orientation relative to the Hall sensor.

In addition Micromem announces today that it has released to a third party the design and manufacture of a high-density magnetoresisitve sensor array. This design will focus on the innovative use of magnetism, electronics and nanotechnology. The company believes this sensor has market value in military, medical, forensic and human interface applications. The 256 x 256 sensor array is planned as a demonstration of the flexibility of non-invasive capabilities of magnetic anomaly detection, combined with the ability to measure absolute field strengths in Oersteds/Gauss.