At the 64th International Electronic Devices Conference, Intel and Samsung, the world's two largest semiconductor leaders, demonstrated new technologies for embedded MRAM in the logic chip manufacturing process.

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At the 64th International Electronic Devices Meeting (IEDM), Intel and Samsung, the world's two largest semiconductor leaders, demonstrated new technologies for embedded MRAM in the logic chip manufacturing process.

MRAM (Magnetic Random Access Memory) is a non-volatile memory technology that has been developed since the 1990s. The speed of this technology is close to the high-speed reading and writing capabilities of static random access memory, and it has the non-volatility of flash memory. Its capacity density and service life are not inferior to DRAM, but the average energy consumption is much lower than DRAM, and it can basically be used infinitely. Repeatedly write.

Intel has said its embedded MRAM technology can achieve a memory period of up to 10 years at 200 degrees Celsius and can achieve persistence over 106 switching cycles. And Intel describes the key characteristics of STT-MRAM (MRAM-based spin transfer torque) non-volatile memory in its 22 FFL process. Intel calls it "the first FinFET-based MRAM technology."

This technology can be equivalent to the "production-ready" stage. Intel has not disclosed this process information to any foundry customers, but according to multiple sources, this technology has been used in products currently being shipped.

As for Samsung, it also claims that its 8Mb MRAM has a battery life of 106 times and a memory period of 10 years. Samsung technology will initially be used for IoT applications. Yoon Jong Song, chief engineer at Samsung's R&D center, said reliability must improve before it can be used in automotive and industrial applications. Samsung has successfully transferred the technology from the laboratory to the factory and will commercialize it in the near future.

Samsung also claimed on the 28nm FDSOI platform that STT-MRAM is currently considered the best MRAM technology in terms of scalability, shape dependence, magnetic scalability, etc.

What is MRAM

According to EETIME, MRAM technology has been developed since the 1990s but has not yet achieved widespread commercial success. "I think now is the time to show what MRAM can be manufactured and commercialized!" said Yoon Jong Song, chief engineer at Samsung's R&D center. Song is also the lead author of the company's paper published at IEDM.

As the industry continues to move toward smaller technologies Nodes, DRAM and NAND flash memory (flash) are facing severe scaling challenges, and MRAM is therefore regarded as an alternative independent component that is expected to replace these memory chips. In addition, this non-volatile memory is also regarded as an attractive embedded technology and suitable for replacing Flash and embedded SRAM due to its fast read/write time, high endurance and strong retention capacity. Embedded MRAM is seen as particularly suitable for applications like Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The main thing about

is that it has fast read and write times, high durability and excellent retention. Embedded MRAM is considered to be particularly suitable for applications such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which are also catching up with the 5G generation.

Embedded MRAM is gaining more attention in consumer products as manufacturing costs decline and other memory technologies face scalability challenges. Importantly, as new process technologies develop, the size of SRAM cells does not shrink with the remaining processes, and from this point of view, MRAM becomes increasingly attractive.

Globalfoundries has been supplying embedded MRAM using its 22FDX 22-nm FD-SOI process since last year. But Jim Handy, principal analyst at Objective Analysis, said he was not aware of any commercial product launches using Globalfoundries' embedded MRAM technology.

"The reason no one is adopting it is they also have to add new materials to it," he said.

But as manufacturing costs fall and other memory technologies face scaling challenges, embedded MRAM is becoming increasingly popular. Handy said: “The important thing is that as new process technology advances, the size of SRAM memory cells will not shrink with subsequent advanced processes, so MRAM will become more and more attractive.

UMC is also eyeing MRAM

Wafer foundry second brother UMC (2303) and the next-generation ST-MRAM (spin transfer torque magnetoresistive RAM) major American company Avalanche jointly announced that the two companies have become partners to jointly develop and the production of magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) that replaces embedded memory. At the same time, UMC will also provide technology to other companies through licensing from Avalanche. According to this cooperation agreement, UMC will provide embedded non-volatile MRAM blocks on the 28nm CMOS process for customers to integrate low-latency, ultra-high performance and low-power embedded MRAM memory modules into application products and lock them into physical devices. In networking, wearable devices, consumer products, as well as microcontrollers (MCUs) and system-on-a-chip (SoC) in the industrial and automotive electronics markets.

UMC also mentioned that the two companies are also considering extending the scope of cooperation to process technologies below 28 nanometers, using Avalanche's compatibility and scalability features in CMOS technology to apply to various advanced processes. This enables these unified memories (non-volatile and static random access memory SRAM) to be smoothly transferred to the next generation of highly integrated microcontrollers (MCU) and system on a chip (SoC). In this way, system designers can directly modify the same architecture and associated software systems without redesigning. Petro, CEO and co-founder of

Avalanche Estakhri said: "We are very pleased to have a world-class semiconductor wafer specialist leader like UMC on our team." Hong Guijun, Vice President of UMC's Advanced Technology Division, also said: "With the embedded non-volatile memory NVM solution solutions are becoming increasingly popular in the current chip design industry, and the wafer foundry industry has experienced rapid growth. UMC has established a strong and solid portfolio of embedded non-volatile memory solutions for customers in emerging consumer and automotive electronics applications. UMC is pleased to collaborate with Avalanche on the development of 28nm MRAM and looks forward to the collaborative process. Pushed to the mass production stage for UMC customers. 》