Posted on Wednesday, December 12 2018 @ 12:20 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
EE Times
reports both Intel and Samsung revealed embedded MRAM technologies at last week's 64th International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco. Interestingly, Intel described its STT-MRAM as production ready and multiple sources told the site that Intel is already using it in commercial products:
Intel (Santa Clara, California) described the key features of spin-transfer torque (STT)-MRAM–based non-volatile memory into its 22FFL process, calling it “the first FinFET-based MRAM technology.” Describing the technology as “production-ready,” Intel did not name any foundry customers for the process, but multiple sources said that it is already being used in products now shipping.
Samsung (Seoul), meanwhile, described STT — MRAM in a 28-nm FDSOI platform. STT-MRAM is regarded as the best MRAM technology in terms of scalability, shape dependence, and magnetic scalability.
MRAM is sort of a replacement for both DRAM and NAND flash memory, and it's also an alternative for embedded SRAM thanks to better read/write times, high endurance, and strong data retention. MRAM is more scalable than SRAM, which isn't shrinking with the rest of the process with smaller process technology.
