everspin

World’s first 32 Mb toggle magnetoresistive RAM chip debuts

October 31, 2019 By Aimee Kalnoskas Leave a Comment

Everspin announced the world’s first 32Mb Toggle MRAM product. Everspin’s new 32Mb Toggle MRAM (MR5A16A) provides twice the capacity of its current 16Mb solution and enables critical applications, such as storing configurations and setup and data logging in embedded systems that need a higher density option, while also providing the proven benefits of Everspin’s Toggle MRAM.

The new 32Mb device expands the target applications beyond what the Company is currently addressing with its existing Toggle products and has been sampled with several industry leaders in the gaming, industrial and military/aerospace markets. This device offers higher capacity while maintaining fast read and write access speeds and robust 20-year data retention inherent in all of Everspin’s Toggle devices. In addition, as with other Everspin Toggle products, the 32Mb option provides unlimited cycle endurance for reads and writes across a variety of temperatures, ranging from -40C to +125C, and is available in both BGA and TSOP standard package types for maximum design and system flexibility.

In addition, Everspin announced new 2Mb (MR1A16A) and 8Mb (MR3A16A) Toggle MRAM products to better serve customers that require more economical solutions for lower data capacity requirements. These densities complement the 1Mb, 4Mb and 16Mb devices that Everspin has been producing for years. With these new additions, Everspin now offers a complete portfolio of Toggle MRAM devices, spanning 128Kb to 32Mb in serial and parallel interfaces and several popular packaging options.

The 32Mb and 8Mb Toggle MRAM devices are currently sampling and will be in production in the first quarter of 2020. The 2Mb will be sampling later this quarter, with production also following in the first quarter.

Toggle-mode magnetroresistive RAM ICs pack 32Mb

October 29, 2019 By Lee Teschler Leave a Comment

A new 32Mb Toggle MRAM (MR5A16A) provides twice the capacity of the current 16Mb solution and enables critical applications, such as storing configurations and setup and data logging in embedded systems that need a higher density option, while maintaining the proven benefits of Everspin’s Toggle MRAM.

Everspin’s 32Mb Toggle MRAM has been sampled to several industry leaders in the gaming, industrial and military/aerospace markets. The 32Mb offers higher capacity while maintaining the fast read and write access speed and robust 20-year data retention of all its Toggle devices. In addition, like all Everspin Toggle products, the new device provides unlimited cycle endurance for reads and writes in a variety of temperature grades including -40 to +125°C, and offers design and system flexibility with both BGA and TSOP standard package types.

“Due to increasing data sets evolving across a wide range of IoT and industrial applications, our customers are looking for reliable, higher density persistent memory options to replace legacy SRAM systems,” said Troy Winslow, VP of Global Sales at Everspin Technologies, Inc. “As critical applications push past the current 16Mb capacity, our customers will quickly benefit from our 32Mb Toggle MRAM solution.”

“As our data needs continuously expand, we need a higher density, durable, and persistent memory that matches our product’s fast access time and small footprint requirements,” said Alain Farine, Senior Hardware R&D Manager at JAG Jakob. “Everspin’s 32Mb Toggle MRAM is the non-volatile memory solution we need for our Unified Memory Model.” JAG Jakob is a leading supplier of robotics and factory automation equipment based in Switzerland.

In addition, Everspin announced new 2Mb (MR1A16A) and 8Mb Toggle MRAM products (MR3A16A) to better serve customers that need a more economical solution for lower data capacity requirements. These densities complement the 1Mb, 4Mb, and 16Mb devices that have been in production for years. With these new additions, Everspin offers a complete portfolio of Toggle MRAM devices, spanning 128Kb to 32Mb in serial and parallel interfaces and several popular packaging options.

MR5A16A 32Mb and MR1A16A 8Mb Toggle MRAM devices are currently sampling and will be in production Q1 2020. The MR1A16A 2Mb will be sampling later this quarter, with production also following in Q1 2020.

Everspin Technologies, 5670 W. Chandler Blvd., Suite 100, Chandler, AZ 85226, : +1-877-480-MRAM (6726), www.everspin.com

What are MRAMs?

May 24, 2018 By Maria Guerra 1 Comment

MRAM, Magneto-Resistive Random Access Memory, is a type of non-volatile memory (NVM) capable of holding saved data even if the power is down or the power is accidentally cut off. MRAM — also called Magnetic RAM — is not new. It has been in the market for more than two decades, but there have been several recent developments in the technology allows MRAM to be used successfully in specific emerging applications, as well as in not-so-new ones.

How does MRAM work?

MRAM technology is based on a component called Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ) that consists of two ferromagnetic layers separated by an insulating layer. MRAM works by changing the resistance of an MTJ to store a logic 1 or a logic 0. The resistance of MTJ is dependent on the relative spin orientations of two ferromagnetic layers, and it can adopt two resistance values: high resistance or low resistance.

As an example, let’s look at Figure 1. One of the ferromagnetic layers of the MTJ, called the reference layer, keeps its magnetic direction fixed, while the other, called the free layer, can have its direction changed by using magnetic fields or by applying polarized currents. When both the reference layer and the free layer have the same direction, the resistance of the MTJ is low (a logic 0 is stored). However, if they have different directions, the resistance is high (a logic 1 is stored).

How did MRAM devices evolve?

The first generation of MRAM devices used a toggle mode technology, in which a magnetic field changes the electron spin to program/write bits. Toggle MRAM was easier to develop, but it is difficult to scale down. The current required to flip the bit does not decrease its value as the write lines get smaller and resulting in other challenges. Succeeding generations of MRAM devices started to use another method called Spin-Transfer Torque (STT) MRAM. SST MRAM uses a spin-polarized current to switch the spin of electrons and making it easier and cheaper scaling-down the devices.

But today, most STT MRAM devices in the market are using a perpendicular approach where electrons spin horizontally and change perpendicular to the plane (Figure 2). This perpendicular approach has the advantage of providing lower switching currents using smaller transistors and reducing power consumption resulting in enabling higher density memory products.

What are current and future STT-MRAM applications?

Current STT-MRAM devices already have the advantage of being faster and lower power than NVM flash memory devices. They also have the potential to compete against volatile memory devices such as SRAM and DRAM, not only because they could be faster but because they can be scaled-down even below 10 nm. This feature makes them even more attractive to embedded memory applications.

Just recently, a research group from Tohoku University announced ultra-small magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) down to a single-digit-nanometer scale that have sufficient retention properties and yet can be switched by a current.

MRAM technology is commercialized in different ways (e.g., licenses and chips) from several companies such as Everspin and Spin Transfer Technologies. For example, Everspin is offering -within its MRAMS products- STT MRAM devices with a density of 256Mb (EMD3D256M) (Figure 3) targeted at enterprise and computing applications. On the other hand, Spin Transfer Technologies offers its unique Precessional Spin Current (PSC) technology that claims it will enable MRAM to replace SRAM and DRAM in mobile, datacenter and AI applications, as well as for improving retention and performance in high-temperature automotive applications.

Like many other technologies, STT-MRAM has its challenges and time will tell if STT-MRAM technology will replace SRAM or DRAM technologies. STT-MRAM technology has promising opportunities in microcontrollers and system-on-chips (SoCs) for automotive, the Internet of Things, and more. MRAM technology also has the potential to be implemented in massive mass storage systems for servers in financial technology (FinTech) applications enabling trading systems to be faster and more efficient without adding risks from compliance.