Crossbar Searching for Funding and Customers for its ReRAM Products to Compete with Intel's Optane

Crossbar 3D Resistive RAM Heads to Commercialization 3 comments

In a Dec. 15 presentation at the 2014 International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco, Silicon Valley start-up Crossbar said that it has solved a major hurdle towards commercialization of its 3D/vertical resistive random-access memory (RRAM) product.

While 1TnR enables a single transistor to drive over 2,000 memory cells with very low power, it also experiences leakage of a sneak path current that interferes with the performance and reliability of a typical RRAM array. Crossbar's device solves that leakage problem by utilizing a super linear threshold layer. In that layer, a volatile conduction path is formed at the threshold voltage. This device is the industry's first selector capable of suppressing the leakage current at very small dimensions, and it has been successfully demonstrated in a four-megabit test memory chip.

Crossbar has previously made a number of bold claims about their potential NAND flash replacement: that it can fit 1 terabyte in an area the size of a postage stamp, while allowing 20x faster writes than NAND using 5% as much energy. Crossbar also claims 100,000 write cycles compared to NAND's 3,000-10,000. NAND endurance scaling issues have led Samsung, Hynix, SanDisk and Micron to pursue vertical-NAND in order to boost capacity and prolong endurance. Samsung has already commercialized V-NAND with the 850 EVO and 850 Pro SSD lines. Crossbar expects to produce RRAM for wearable devices starting in 2016, with RRAM-based SSDs appearing 18 months later.

In a related development also presented at IEDM, engineers at Stanford University have built a "four-layer prototype high-rise chip" using carbon nanotube transistors (CNTs) and RRAM. The researchers developed a new technique that transfers CNTs from a quartz growth medium to a silicon wafer using an adhesive metal film, "achieving some of the highest density, highest performance CNTs ever made." They fabricated RRAM layers directly atop each CNT logic layer while drilling thousands of interconnections between the layers.

SanDisk and HP Announce Potential Competitor to XPoint Memory 5 comments

takyon writes:

HP and SanDisk have announced the development of Storage-Class Memory, a technology with attributes similar to Intel and Micron's 3D XPoint ("crosspoint") memory:

HP and SanDisk are joining forces to combat the Intel/Micron 3D XPoint memory threat, and developing their own Storage-Class Memory (SCM) technology.
SCM is persistent memory that runs at DRAM or near-DRAM speed but is less costly, enabling in-memory computing without any overhead of writing to slower persistent data storage such as flash or disk through a CPU cycle-gobbling IO stack. It requires both hardware and software developments. Micron and Intel's XPoint memory is claimed to be 1,000 times faster than flash with up to 1,000 times flash's endurance. Oddly enough HP and SanDisk say their SCM technology is also "expected to be up to 1,000 times faster than flash storage and offer up to 1,000 times more endurance than flash storage."
[...] The partnership's aim is to create enterprise-class products for Memory-driven Computing and also to build better data centre SSDs. The Storage-Class Memory deal is more long-term: "Our partnership to collaborate on new SCM technology solutions is expected to revolutionise computing in the years ahead."
[...] It's not yet known what the XPoint cell process is, beyond being told it's a bulk change to the material but not a phase-change. Analyst Jim Handy has written an XPoint report which said HP had abandoned its Memristor technology. This SanDisk partnership implies that this point is incorrect.
The HP/SanDisk duo also intend to contribute to HP's Machine concept, "which reinvents the fundamental architecture of computers to enable a quantum leap in performance and efficiency, while lowering costs and improving security."

As we previously reported, Intel and Micron plan to release SSD and DIMM XPoint-based products in 2016, with Intel marketing them under the brand name "Optane".

Is HP's memristor partnership with Hynix obsolete? Will HP Enterprise finally give birth to "The Machine" and change supercomputing? Will Crossbar's ReRAM wither and die, or will the company join the fray and compete to produce the ultimate post-NAND memory?

Original Submission

Fujitsu to Mass Produce Nantero-Licensed NRAM in 2018 25 comments

takyon writes:

A nanotube-based non-volatile RAM product could give Intel/Micron's 3D XPoint some competition:

Fujitsu announced that it has licensed Nantero's carbon nanotube-based NRAM (Non-volatile RAM) and will participate in a joint development effort to bring a 256Gb 55nm product to market in 2018. Carbon nanotubes are a promising technology projected to make an appearance in numerous applications, largely due to their incredible characteristics, which include unmatchable performance, durability and extreme temperature tolerance. Most view carbon nanotubes as a technology far off on the horizon, but Nantero has had working prototypes for several years.
[...] Other products also suffer limited endurance thresholds, whereas Nantero's NRAM has been tested up to 10^12 (1 trillion) cycles. The company stopped testing endurance at that point, so the upper bounds remain undefined. [...] The NRAM carbon nanotubes are 2nm in diameter. Much like NAND, fabs arrange the material into separate cells. NAND employs electrons to denote the binary value held in each cell (1 or 0), and the smallest lithographies hold roughly a dozen electrons per cell. NRAM employs several hundred carbon nanotubes per cell, and the tubes either attract or repel each other with the application of an electrical current, which signifies an "on" or "off" state. NRAM erases (resets) the cells with a phonon-driven technique that forces the nanotubes to vibrate and separate from each other. NRAM triggers the reset process by reversing the current, and it is reportedly more power efficient than competing memories (particularly at idle, where it requires no power at all).

NRAM could be much faster than 3D XPoint and suitable as universal memory for a concept like HP's "The Machine":

NRAM seems to be far faster than XPoint, and could be denser. An Intel Optane DIMM might have a latency of [7-9 µs] (7,000-9,000ns). Micron QuantX XPoint SSDs are expected to have latencies of [10 µs] for reading and [20 µs] for writing; that's 10,000 and 20,000ns respectively. A quick comparison has NRAM at c50ns or less and XPoint DIMMs at 7,000-10,000ns, 140-200 times slower. We might imagine that an XPoint/ReRAM-using server system has both DRAM and XPoint/ReRAM whereas an NRAM-using system might just use NRAM, once pricing facilitates this.

Another company licensing with Nantero is already looking to scale the NRAM down to 28nm.

Original Submission

Two Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) Papers 7 comments

takyon writes:

https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2017/08/gentle-touch-nist-scientists-push-us-closer-flash-memory-successor

[Resistive random access memory (RRAM)] could form the basis of a better kind of nonvolatile computer memory, where data is retained even when the power is off. Nonvolatile memory is already familiar as the basis for flash memory in thumb drives, but flash technology has essentially reached its size and performance limits. For several years, the industry has been hunting for a replacement.
[...] One hurdle is its variability. A practical memory switch needs two distinct states, representing either a one or a zero, and component designers need a predictable way to make the switch flip. Conventional memory switches flip reliably when they receive a pulse of electricity, but we're not there yet with RRAM switches, which are still flighty.
[...] This randomness cuts into the technology's advantages, but in two recent papers, the research team has found a potential solution. The key lies in controlling the energy delivered to the switch by using multiple, short pulses instead of one long pulse.
Typically, chip designers have used relatively strong pulses of about a nanosecond in duration. The NIST team, however, decided to try a lighter touch—using less energetic pulses of 100 picoseconds, about a tenth as long. They found that sending a few of these gentler signals was useful for exploring the behavior of RRAM switches as well as for flipping them.
"Shorter pulses reduce the variability," Nminibapiel said. "The issue still exists, but if you tap the switch a few times with a lighter 'hammer,' you can move it gradually, while simultaneously giving you a way to check it each time to see if it flipped successfully."

Characteristics of Resistive Memory Read Fluctuations in Endurance Cycling (DOI: 10.1109/LED.2017.2656818) (DX)

Impact of RRAM Read Fluctuations on the Program-Verify Approach (DOI: 10.1109/LED.2017.2696002) (DX)

Original Submission

Intel Announces the Optane SSD 900P: Cheaper 3D XPoint for Desktops 10 comments

takyon writes:

Intel has announced new 3D XPoint "Optane" solid state drives at two capacities:

The Intel Optane SSD 900P will come to market in two capacity sizes, 280GB and 480GB. The series uses two form factors, 2.5" U.2 and half-height, half-length add-in card (AIC). This will start to get confusing so look closely. The 280GB will have two 2.5" models on launch day. One comes with a standard U.2 cable and the second comes with an M.2 to U.2 adapter cable. The 480GB will not ship in a 2.5" form factor until a later date. It will ship in the add-in card form factor starting today.
Regardless of the form factor or capacity size, all Optane SSD 900P drives deliver up to 2,500 MBps sequential read and 2,000 MBps sequential write performance. This is lower than some of the other high-performance NVMe SSDs shipping today, but we will address that in the next section. The drives also deliver up to 550,000 random read and 500,000 random write IOPS performance. This is class leading performance, but there is more to the story.
3D XPoint memory performance is closer to the speed of DRAM than NAND used in SSDs. SSD marketing numbers show maximum performance that comes only at high queue depths. Most of us rarely surpass queue depth 4 and the faster the storage, the less likely you are to even build data requests. This memory addresses the problem with performance at usable workloads.
In the chart [here] we have the three fastest Intel consumer storage products from different market segments: SATA SSD, NVMe SSD, and Optane NVMe SSD. We've also added the new Seagate BarraCuda Pro 12TB, the fastest consumer hard disk drive shipping today.

Pricing is $390 for 280 GB, and $600 for 480 GB. That's $1.25/GB for the larger drive, compared to $2.34/GB for the 32 GB Optane Memory M.2 2280 and the launch price of $4.05/GB for the 375 GB Optane SSD DC P4800X (Reviewed here).

3D XPoint is a non-volatile memory/storage technology.

Previously: First Intel Optane 3D XPoint SSD Released: 375 GB for $1520
Intel Announces Optane 16 GB and 32 GB M.2 Modules
Intel Announces "Ruler" Form Factor for Server SSDs

Original Submission

Intel Unveils 58 GB and 118 GB Optane SSDs 10 comments

takyon writes:

The Intel Optane SSD 800p (58GB & 118GB) Review: Almost The Right Size

Intel's first Optane products hit the market almost a year ago, putting the much-awaited 3D XPoint memory in the hands of consumers. Today, Intel broadens that family with the Optane SSD 800p, pushing the Optane brand closer to the mainstream.
The new Optane SSD 800p is an M.2 NVMe SSD using Intel's 3D XPoint memory instead of flash memory. The 800p is based on the same hardware platform as last year's Optane Memory M.2 drive, which was intended primarily for caching purposes (but could also be used as a boot drive with a sufficiently small operating system). That means the 800p uses a PCIe 3 x2 link and Intel's first-generation 3D XPoint memory—but more of it, with usable capacities of 58GB and 118GB compared to just 16GB and 32GB from last year's Optane Memory. The PCB layout has been tweaked and the sticker on the drive no longer has a foil layer to act as a heatspreader, but the most significant design changes are to the drive firmware, which now supports power management including a low power idle state.

Prices are $129 and $199.

Also at ZDNet.

Previously: First Intel Optane 3D XPoint SSD Released: 375 GB for $1520
Intel Announces Optane 16 GB and 32 GB M.2 Modules
Intel Announces the Optane SSD 900P: Cheaper 3D XPoint for Desktops

Original Submission

Rambus and Gigadrive Form Joint Venture to Commercialize Resistive RAM 6 comments

takyon writes:

Rambus, GigaDevice form ReRAM joint venture

Reliance Memory has been formed in Beijing, China to commercialize Resistive Random Access Memory (ReRAM) technology. The company is a joint venture between intellectual property developer Rambus Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.), fabless chip company GigaDevice Semiconductor (Beijing) Inc. and multiple venture capital companies. VC companies include THG Ventures, West Summit Capital, Walden International and Zhisland Capital.
The value of the investment was not disclosed but the company is expected to make ReRAM for use in embedded and IoT applications. GigaDevice is a fabless chip company that uses foundries to manufacture non-volatile memory and 32bit microcontrollers.
The Rambus ReRAM technology, previously known as CMOx has a heritage that goes back to Rambus's acquisition of Unity Semiconductor Corp. for $35 million in February 2012. Unity has been working on the technology for a decade, but failed to bring the technology to market. Unity had claimed to have developed a passive rewritable cross-point memory array based on conductive metal oxide. This would provide similarities to filament-based metal migration technologies such as those developed by Adesto Technologies Corp. and Crossbar Inc.

Resistive random-access memory. Yes, that Rambus.

Original Submission

Micron Buys Out Intel's Stake in 3D XPoint Joint Venture 7 comments

takyon writes:

What Next for 3D XPoint? Micron to Buy Intel's Share in 3D XPoint Fab

Micron on Thursday announced plans to acquire Intel's stake in IM Flash Technologies, a joint venture between the two companies. IM Flash owns a fab near Lehi, Utah, which is the only producer of 3DXPoint memory that Intel uses for its premium Optane-branded solid-state storage products. Once the transaction is completed, Intel will have to ink a supply agreement with Micron to get 3D XPoint memory after the current agreement finishes at the end of 2019. This will have important ramifications for Intel's 3D XPoint-based portfolio.
Under the terms of the joint venture agreement between Intel and Micron signed in 2005, the latter controls 51% of company and has a right to acquire the remaining share under certain conditions. Intel already sold Micron its stakes in IM Flash fabs in Singapore and Virginia back in 2012, which left IM Flash with only one production facility near Lehi, Utah (pictured below). The fab is used exclusively to produce 3D XPoint memory right now.
[...] While Intel will continue to obtain 3D XPoint from IM Flash until at least mid-2020, there is a big catch. The two companies are set to finish development of their 2nd Gen 3D XPoint [sometime] in the second or the third quarter of calendar 2019. The joint development takes place in IM Flash R&D facilities and the design is tailored for the IM Flash fab and jointly-developed process technology. Therefore, the transaction may potentially affect Intel's ramp up plans for the 2nd Gen 3D XPoint memory. In fact, Intel can manufacture 3D XPoint memory at Fab 68 in Dalian, China, the company said earlier this year. However, since the fab is busy making 3D NAND, Intel may have to adjust its production plans for both types of memory.

Original Submission

Western Digital's Low Latency Flash: A Competitor to Intel's Optane (3D XPoint)? 2 comments

takyon writes:

Western Digital Develops Low-Latency Flash to Compete with Intel Optane

Western Digital is working on its own low-latency flash memory that will offer a higher performance and endurance when compared to conventional 3D NAND, ultimately designed to compete against Optane storage.
At Storage Field Day this week, Western Digital spoke about its new Low Latency Flash NAND. The technology is meant to fit somewhere between 3D NAND and DRAM, similar to Intel's Optane storage and Samsung's Z-NAND. Similar to those technologies, according to Western Digital, its LLF memory will feature access time "in the microsecond range", using 1 bit-per-cell and 2 bit-per-cell architectures.
[...] Western Digital does not disclose all the details regarding its low-latency flash memory and it is impossible to say whether it has anything to do with Toshiba's XL-Flash low-latency 3D NAND introduced last year as well as other specialized types of flash.
[...] In the more long term, Western Digital is working on ReRAM-based SCM internally, and on memristor-based SCM with HP.

The estimate is that WD's LLF memory will be 1/10th the cost of DRAM, and 3x as expensive as 3D NAND.

This sounds like a rebrand of SLC and MLC NAND.

Original Submission

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