Space MRAM

Everspin Technologies is at the forefront of the MRAM industry, with a product range that spans Toggle MRAM and STT-MRAM, embedded MRAM IP, more. The company's president and CEO, Sanjeev Aggarwal, was kind enough to answer a few questions we had about the company, it's recent announcements and its future roadmap.

Thank you for your time Sanjeev, we appreciate it. A few days ago, Everspin announced it had received a strategic $14.55 million 2.5-year DoD project to provide continued and stable manufacturing services. Can you share more info? How will that money be allocated, and how will you ensure stable support?

Everspin has partnered with the DoD on various projects to deploy our MRAM technology and fab MRAM products for Defense Industrial Base customers in Chandler, Arizona. The award money will be used to strength the US MRAM manufacturing supply chain.  Everspin will look at its supply chain and mitigate any risks identified. This can include second-sourcing gases and chemicals as well as upgrading processes.  

Everspin Technologies announced that it has received a strategic $14.55 million 2.5-years project from the Department of Defense (DoD) to provide continued and stable manufacturing services for aerospace and defense segments. Under the award, Everspin will provide a plan to mitigate risks to its MRAM manufacturing supply chain.

Everspin is producing its MRAM products at its manufacturing line in Chandler, Arizon. In March 2024, Everspin announced that it has applied for the CHIPS Incentives Program, asking for funding for an additional 200mm MRAM production line. It seems as if this current DoD award is not that project that was applied to in March. In 2022, Everspin asked for funding to build a new MRAM production line in Indiana.

pMTJ STT-MRAM developer Avalanche Technology launched a new enhanced discrete product family called "Space Grade-E", targeting the aerospace & defense community. The new Space Grade-E MRAM is based on Avalancehe's Gen 3 high density, high reliability MRAM technology, and it allows pin compatible scalability to MEO, GEO, and beyond.

The Space Grade-E family is now sampling, and is offered in both Parallel and Dual QSPI interface types. Compared to the company's previous generation space-grade MRAM, this new generation includes a boost in radiation tolerance specs and burn in hours for improved reliability. The new memory is maintains pin-compatible migration from Avalanche's previous generation space-grade MRAM. 

pMTJ STT-MRAM developer Avalanche Technology launched two new densities of its 3rd generation space-grade parallel asynchronous x32-interface high-reliability P-SRAM (Persistent SRAM) memory devices, based on its latest STT-MRAM tech, in 2Gb and 8Gb.

In June 2023 Avalanche announced that it is providing its products for satellite power applications developed by Advanced Space Power Equipment. Earlier that year Avalanche announced that its Gen-3 Space Grade Dual QSPI solution is now available in pre-production.

US-based design house and services provider Green Mountain Semiconductor (GMS) has won a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from NASA, to develop a neuromorphic AI processor for space applications using MRAM magnetic memory.

GMS's approach involves the development of an analysis tool to optimize circuit designs for reliability and radiation resistance. This advancement will enable the use of off-the-shelf technology in space applications without the need for excessive design modifications to ensure radiation resistance.

pMTJ STT-MRAM developer Avalanche Technology announced that it is providing its Space Grade Persistent SRAM (P-SRAM) STT-MRAM products for satellite-based storage systems developed by RAiTEK. 

RAiTEK has designed in a 16Mb device from Avalanche's Gen 2 Space Grade family to monitor data stream status, and a 1Gb Gen 3 Space Grade to support large configuration images for the onboard FPGA used in the drives, as part of their growing portfolio of data storage and processing solutions for the space industry.

pMTJ STT-MRAM developer Avalanche Technology announced that its Gen-3 Space Grade Dual QSPI solution is now available in pre-production.

The devices are based on the company's latest generation STT-MRAM technology. Avalanche says that the new devices offer significant density, endurance, reliability, and power benefits, over existing memory solutions for aerospace and defense applications, particularly for easily configuring advanced SoCs and FPGAs, which are known to present complex design challenges.

Advanced aerospace and defense mission-critical electronics developer CAES announced that its radiation-hardened microelectronic devices are on their way to Jupiter, as part of NASA’s Lucy Mission.

Lucy’s payload is comprised of a high-resolution visible imager, an optical and near-infrared imaging spectrometer and a thermal infrared spectrometer. CAES says that the payloaduses two memory devices - 16 Mbit SRAM and 16 Mbit MRAM. The company's UT8MR2M8 chip (shown above), basedon Everspin's MRAM, is a high performance, space grade, 16Mb non-volatile MRAM device with proven flight heritage.