pMTJ STT-MRAM developer Avalanche Technology announced its 2nd-generation serial non-volatile discrete MRAM memory family. The SPnvSRAM family offers 1 Mb to 32 Mb densities at extended-temperature industrial-grade specifications. Avalanche says that these devices, available in low pin count, small package options, are ideal for a broad range of industrial, automotive and consumer applications.

Avalanche's 2-Gen SPnvSRAM is offered in 108-MHz Quad Serial Peripheral Interface (QSPI) performance as a byte addressable memory thus eliminating the need for software device drivers.

pMTJ STT-MRAM developer Avalanche Technology announced that it has entered into a joint development and production agreement with Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), a global semiconductor foundry.

UMC will provide embedded non-volatile STT-MRAM blocks based on UMC's 28nm CMOS manufacturing process, which will enable customers to integrate low latency, very high performance and low power embedded MRAM memory blocks into MCUs and SoCs, targeting the Internet of Things, wearable, consumer, industrial and automotive electronics markets.

Spin Transfer Technologies (STT) announced that its unique Precessional Spin Current (PSC) structure can increase the spin-torque efficiency of any MRAM device by 40-70 percent, which means dramatically higher data retention while consuming less power.

Following advanced testing, the company says that these higher spin-torque efficiencies translate to retention times lengthening by a factor of over 10,000 while reducing write current.

Everspin announced that the company recorded revenue for its first 40nm 256Mb STT-MRAM (pMTJ) products in Q4 2017, and is now ramping up volume production. The 256Mb STT-MRAM employs an innovative ST-DDR3 interface, unlocking performance previously unattainable in legacy MRAM components.

These new 40nm 256Mb chips are produced by Global Foundries, Everspin's production partner, which says it is on track to its risk production release of 22FDX eMRAM in 2018.

Crocus Nano Electronics (CNE) announced successful test results for its 90 nm pMTJ STT-MRAM technology. The company says it has developed unique materials that are able to deliver high data retention, tolerance to external magnetic fields and low switching currents. The company expects to produce its first engineering samples in later in 2018.

CNE also reports that it complete the design of its STT-MRAM test chip for further technology improvement in cooperation with eVaderis. Together with eVaderis, CNE created a "universal memory chip" able to serve as a platform for technology development through a wide range of MTJ sizes, currents and voltages ranges.

eVaderis announced that it has successfully demonstrated a fully functioning design platform through an ultra-low-power microcontroller (MCU) in Beyond Semiconductor’s BA2X product line. eVaderis says that this new MCU is ideally suited for battery-powered applications in IoT and wearable electronics.

The new design uses imec's perpendicular, STT-MRAM technology that enables the new MCU to achieve non-volatile operation with high-speed read/write and low voltage. The MCU includes 3 Mb of on-chip STT-MRAM memory.

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.

Spin Transfer Technologies announced that it started to deliver fully functional ST-MRAM samples to customers in North America and Asia.

The sample devices are based on the company's Orthogonal Spin Transfer Magneto-Resistive Random Access Memory technology (OST-MRAM), and use 80nm perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs)., the latest generation of MRAM technology.

Samsung demonstrated an LCD display that uses a tCON chip that uses embedded 28nm pMTJ STT-MRAM memory, instead of the normally used SRAM. The MRAM device had a density of 8Mb and a 1T-1MTJ cell architecture. The cell size is 0.0364 um².

A tCON chip is a timing controller chip that processes the video signal input and processes it to generate control signal to the source & gate driver of the LCD display. The memory is used a a frame memory which stores previous frame data. Samsung prepared a test chip that contains both SRAM and MRAM memory devices to show that there is no difference between the two. SRAM replacement is a popular MRAM application.