SoylentNews

takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

GlobalFoundries' 22FDX with MRAM is Ready [anandtech.com]

GlobalFoundries on Thursday said that it had completed development of its 22FDX (22 nm FD-SOI) technology with embedded magnetoresistive non-volatile memory (eMRAM). The technology can be used for a variety of applications, including automotive, industrial-grade MCU, and Internet-of-Things (IOT). Several clients of GlobalFoundries are ready to tape out their first 22FDX chips with eMRAM this year.

eMRAM provides a number of advantages when compared to eFlash (which is widely used today) for chips that need relatively high-capacity onboard storage, including higher performance and endurance, but want it all in a single silicon die. MRAM does not involve electric charges or current flows, instead, it uses magnetic storage elements and relies on reading the magnetic anisotropy (orientation) of two ferromagnetic films separated by a thin barrier. The method does not require an erase cycle before writing data, which means additional performance. Furthermore, MRAM can be produced using modern process technologies and has a very high endurance. The technology has some downsides [anandtech.com], which will be eventually addressed by fabrication processes that use ReRAM, but GlobalFoundries and Samsung Foundry see a huge potential in MRAM for the vast majority of applications.

Previously: Everspin Announces New MRAM Products [soylentnews.org]
Samsung Announces Mass Production of Commercial Embedded Magnetic Random Access Memory (eMRAM) [soylentnews.org]
GlobalFoundries Teams Up with Singapore University for ReRAM Project [soylentnews.org]

Original Submission