Download OVONIC UNIFIED MEMORY (OUM)

OVONIC UNIFIED MEMORY (OUM)
Potential replacement for Flash memory in consumer electronics, as well as offering the
possibility of replacing DRAMs and SRAMs — hence the name Ovonic Unified Memory
As computer chip-makers require more and
more robust memory for cell phones and other
mobile devices, they are winnowing the field of
technologies that are contending to help them
out.
And Ovonyx’s phase-change memory may be
emerging as one of the leaders. On 28
December 2005, Ovonyx Inc. and Samsung
Electronics announced that they have entered
into a long-term license agreement relating to
Ovonic Unified Memory (OUM) thin-film
semiconductor memory technology.
The OUM invented by ECD Ovonics is being
commercialized by Ovonyx, Inc. — which grew
out of a joint venture between ECD Ovonics and
Tyler Lowrey, former chief technology officer for
Micron Technology Inc., Intel Capital, and
certain investors. ECD Ovonics owns 39.5% of
Ovonyx. Now, OUM is into a commercialization
stage in a number of ways, including a contract
with BAE Systems, a joint development program
with STMicroelectronics (ST), a joint development program with Intel Corp, and a joint
development program with Elpida Memory.
OUM is one of the most advanced applications
of the science of disordered materials that was
invented and pioneered by ECD Ovonics’ cofounder Stanford R. Ovshinsky. Whereas
conventional silicon memory relies on the
conductive properties of silicon due to the
inherent order of its crystals, OUM uses a layer
of an alloy called chalcogenide formed on
regular silicon chips that can change from a
disordered or amorphous state to a crystalline
state with a highly ordered atomic structure.
Such phase changes brought about by bursts of
electric current can be used to generate the “1s”
or “0s” needed for digital products. The
technology is also versatile enough to display
not only fully amorphous and fully crystalline
states, but also intermediate states that some
day may be used to make multi-state memories.
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Press release issued by STMicroelectronics
STMICROELECTRONICS ADVANCES IN DEVELOPMENT OF
FUTURE NON-VOLATILE MEMORY TECHNOLOGY
Leading Flash memory supplier confirms viability of 'Post-Flash' candidate
• Aggressive Flash development will continue for another decade
• Phase-Change Memory passes 'post-Flash' viability test
Geneva, June 16, 2004 — STMicroelectronics (NYSE:
STM), one of the world's leading semiconductor
suppliers, has announced significant progress in the
development of a new type of electronic memory that
could eventually replace the Flash memory technology.
Today, Flash is a key component of many electronic
applications, from mobile phones, digital cameras, and
set-top boxes to automotive engine controllers. The new
technology, called Phase-Change Memory (PCM),
potentially offers better performance than Flash. Most
importantly, PCM is better suited to continuing the rapid
shrinking of features for cost and speed advantage that
has long characterized the semiconductor industry than
Flash and other so-called "Non-Volatile Memories"
(NVM), which are able to store information even when
their power is switched off.
Even though the market for Flash memories today is very
large and is currently one of the fastest growing sectors
of the semiconductor market, chip manufacturers have
known for many years that it will become increasingly
difficult to keep on reducing the size of the basic Flash
memory cell. The continual reduction of cell size is
essential to electronics equipment manufacturers
because it makes the electronic memories and the
equipment that relies on them cheaper, thereby
stimulating market growth. In the ten years from 1990 to
2000, the size of an individual Flash cell was reduced by
a factor of 30 and chip manufacturers are confident that
they can continue developing innovative new Flash
products for at least another ten years before they will
face increasingly difficult challenges to overcome
fundamental physical limits. For this reason, all Flash
memory manufacturers have been investigating
candidate technologies for the "post-Flash" era.
Three years ago, ST concluded that the Phase-Change
Memory technology, developed by California-based
Ovonyx, Inc. and already used in re-writable CDs, could
be adapted as a semiconductor memory technology. In
2001, ST licensed the technology, also known as Ovonic
Unified Memory, from Ovonyx and the two companies set
up a joint-development team, largely based in Agrate
Brianza, near Milan, where ST's worldwide NVM
development is centered.
The new memory technology exploits the fact that certain
so-called 'chalcogenide' materials can be reversibly
switched between two stable states - one amorphous
with a high electrical resistance, the other crystalline with
a low resistance — by appropriately heating the material.
A memory cell in the new technology consists essentially
of a variable resistance formed by the chalcogenide
material and its tiny electrical heater, along with a
selection transistor used for the read/write operations.
ST's progress towards developing a commercial PCM
technology was described in two papers presented at one
of the semiconductor industry's most important annual
forums, the VLSI Technology and Circuits Symposia held
in Honolulu on June 15-19, 2004. In one paper, ST
showed for the first time an innovative cell structure that
can be easily integrated into the mainstream chip
manufacturing process and which gives good indications
of its manufacturability and cost. In a second paper, ST
described the practical implementation of this technology
in the form of an 8-Mbit demonstrator chip designed to
assess the feasibility of cost-effective large non-volatile
memories.
Based on the highly-promising results it has obtained to
date, ST already envisages the new Phase-Change
Memory technology being used in medium-density,
stand-alone memories and embedded applications.
Moreover, by demonstrating the feasibility of the key
features that make the PCM cell most attractive, ST has
increased its confidence in the long-term scalability of the
technology, which will eventually allow PCM to become a
mainstream Non-Volatile Memory technology.
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