Elpida licenses Phase Change Memory technology

Ovonyx and Elpida Memory today announced that they have entered into an agreement whereby Ovonyx has licensed Elpida to use its Ovonic Universal Memory (OUM) thin-film semiconductor memory technology. The technology license agreement also provides that Ovonyx will actively support Elpida's program to commercialization OUM phase change memory products.

Ovonyx memory technology uses a reversible phase-change memory process that has been previously commercialized worldwide in rewritable CD and DVD optical memory disks. The Ovonyx array-addressed semiconductor memory technology can be used in applications such as DRAM replacements, as well as embedded applications in many product areas such as microcontrollers and reconfigurable MOS logic.

"This agreement provides Elpida with exciting new options to advance memory technology," said Yukio Sakamoto, president and CEO of Elpida Memory, Inc. "Elpida plans to utilize Ovonyx'phase-change technology to further explore the development of new DRAM features that will provide the high performance and low current consumption required for next-generation mobile applications."