News Article
National Science Foundation grant will fund next generation memory development
Grandis, Inc., has announced that it has received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for use in the development and commercialization of spin-transfer torque RAM (STT-RAM) memory.
Grandis, Inc., has announced that it has received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for use in the development and commercialization of spin-transfer torque RAM (STT-RAM) memory. STT-RAM is a next-generation non-volatile memory solution designed to enable excellent scalability and unlimited endurance with low power and fast read/write capability. The NSF grant will support Grandis' research into STT-RAM cell architectures that enhance the thermal stability of STT-RAM memory.The NSF SBIR programs are sponsored by the Small Business Administration, and are designed to stimulate technological innovation and provide opportunities for small businesses. To date, the NSF has awarded Grandis approximately $700,000 in grants to develop its STT-RAM technology."This latest grant from the NSF is further testament to the importance of STT-RAM in providing a potential breakthrough in memory power consumption, density and endurance," said Yiming Huai, Ph.D., co-founder and chief technology officer of Grandis. "Today's conventional memory technologies face severe scaling and performance challenges at or below the 45-nm node. We believe STT-RAM can fill this gap as the first truly universal and scalable ultra-fast, non-volatile memory solution."STT-RAM exploits the spin of electrons to create a novel universal memory solution. Its inherent low 1.2-volt internal voltage is in stark contrast to existing memory technologies, such as DRAM and Flash, which makes it ideal for mobile electronic applications. Its performance, particularly its sub-10-nanosecond write time and unlimited endurance, also exceeds that of other prospective non-volatile memory technologies, such as phase-change RAM (PRAM). Another major benefit of STT-RAM is its low writing current, which can continue to scale down with shrinking design rules—translating to greater density and, ultimately, lower cost per die. With this latest NSF grant, the Grandis team, under the leadership of principal investigator, Dr. Eugene Chen, will explore the enhancement of STT-RAM thermal stability in single-barrier magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) by engineering the preferred magnetic orientation of the MTJ's storage layer. This research is designed to help ensure the long-term data retention of STT-RAM memory without requiring an increase in switching current. The MTJs are the building blocks of STT-RAM, and are covered by Grandis' U.S. patent applications.
