Expanding Freescale’s Award-Winning MRAM Family
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Freescale launches the world’s first 3V extended temperature range (-40ºC to +105°C) non-volatile RAM (nvRAM) product. The 4Mbit MRAM product device enables entry into more rugged application environments, such as industrial, military, aerospace and automotive designs. |
Freescale also launches its first 1Mb commercial
temperature (0ºC to +70°C) MRAM product. This
expands MRAM application to a higher volume
segment of the nvRAM market.
During Q3/07, plans to expand the MRAM product
family include 1Mb, 2Mb and 4Mb products with
commercial, industrial (-40°C to +85°C) and
extended (-40°C to +105°C) temperature ranges.
Freescale’s MRAM family is well positioned to beat
FRAM, nvSRAM and BBSRAM.
MRAM Technology
First to Market with Commercial MRAM
In July, 2006, Freescale was first-to-market with a commercial magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM) device. Built on a foundation of technology protected by more than 100 Freescale patents, including toggle-bit switching, this device is just the latest breakthrough reflective of years' worth of research into MRAM.
Timeline
2002 Freescale Semiconductor successfully demonstrated a 1Mbit MRAM chip with read and write cycles of less than 50ns.
2003 Freescale announced an innovative 4Mbit chip based on Toggle writing mode and integrated with CMOS using copper interconnect technology.
2006 The 4Mbit chip was sampled to a large number of customers for evaluation in their products and, based on demand, it was qualified for production in June 2006, making it the first commercially available MRAM device.
Freescale's MRAM R&D effort continues to lead the industry by demonstrating scalability and reliability of Toggle MRAM, developing embedded MRAM, and researching new architectures, materials, and devices for future generations of the technology.
About MRAM
Magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) combines the speed and durability of SRAM and the non-volatility of Flash onto a "single" chip. Freescale's MRAM cells use a single transistor and a magnetic tunnel junction structure combined with a patented scheme for reliable writing of the magnetic bits. MRAM uses magnetic polarization, rather than electric charge, to store information, eliminating leakage and wear-out. It allows a single memory solution to replace multiple types of memory on a single chip helping to enable faster, lower power, more cost-effective solutions for a variety of applications.
Comparisons to DRAM and Flash
- Since MRAM is nonvolatile, it retains data when completely turned off.
- System power can be significantly reduced compared to DRAM by shutting down the MRAM when inactive since there is no background refreshing required.
- When compared with Flash, MRAM achieves much better performance in write speed and endurance.
- MRAM consumes much less energy in a write cycle because the energy/bit is several orders of magnitude lower than Flash.
- MRAM endurance is unlimited, with no known or expected deterioration mechanism, while typical Flash endurance is only 105 write cycles.
- In applications where the speed of microprocessors is limited by the bottleneck of data transfer between nonvolatile memory and processor chips, MRAM is designed to remove the bottleneck by placing the high-speed nonvolatile memory directly in communications with the microprocessor.
Versatility for a Variety of Applications
MRAM's unique characteristics give it the potential to function as a universal memory in many applications and eliminate the need to combine memories. Stand-alone MRAM chips are a reliable, economical, single-component replacement for battery-backed SRAM units. Other applications include cache buffers and configuration storage memory. Exciting future applications for MRAM technology are expected to result from embedding MRAM on various processor and controller chips. By replacing multiple memory types, MRAM can enhance performance and enable the flexibility to handle many applications with a single circuit design.
Freescale's patented MRAM technology is based on a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) storage element that is deposited on top of a standard logic process. The MTJ contains a fixed layer that is always polarized in one direction, separated from a free layer by a tunnel barrier. When the free layer is polarized in the same direction as the fixed layer, the MTJ exhibits a low resistance across the tunnel barrier. When the free layer is polarized in the reverse direction, the MTJ has a high resistance. This magneto-resistive effect allows MRAM to read data quickly without altering the memory state.
The MTJ at the cross-point of two metal lines is polarized (written) when the magnetic fields from currents flowing through two metal lines become sufficient to switch the MTJ. This is accomplished at SRAM speed.
The one benefit of the MTJ storage element is magnetic polarization does not leak away like an electric charge. Data can be retained for long periods of time at extended temperatures. The second benefit is that switching the magnetic polarization between the two states does not involve actual movement of electrons or atoms, thus no known wear-out mechanism exists.
Freescale’s MRAM family is well positioned to beat FRAM, nvSRAM, BBSRAM
Featured Products
| Part Number |
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Description |
Data
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App.
Notes |
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| MR2A16ATS35C |
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Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory
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refers to New Product Introduction
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