De MEMRISTOR nieuw fundamenteel component

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During IDEM, which is held in Washington, D.C. this week, the European research institute IMEC has shown the first 10nm RRAM cell. RRAM is often also referred to as a memristor.

The area of the cell is 100nm² and is based on hafnium/hafnium-oxide as the switching material. This material is placed between conventional contacts in a cross bar array. The contacts are made of titanium-nitride.

Cross section of IMEC 10nm RRAM cell. Copyright IMEC.

The cell has demonstrated an endurance of more than 1 billion reads/writes and switches in about 1ns. IMEC has extrapolated the data retention period to 10 years at 100 degrees C. Excellent life-span next to a hot GPU.

If manufacturing hurdles can be overcome, then this cell clearly demonstrates that RRAM will be superior to both NAND flash as well as conventional DRAM.

In order to use its potential fully then programmers will start to think of different ways to write programs since memory and storage over time could merge to one large linear space.

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Elpida Announces 64Mb ReRAM, Sees 8Gb Product in 2013

Jan 26, 2012 12:03 Jyunichi Oshita, Nikkei Electronics

Elpida Memory had a press conference Jan 24, 2012, and Takao Adachi, who is responsible for the development of the new memory, explained about the latest technology.

The new ReRAM. Each of its four areas is a 64-Mbit memory array.

Elpida Memory Inc developed ReRAM (resistive random-access memory), which is expected to be one of the next-generation nonvolatile memories.

The company prototyped the ReRAM by using 50nm process technology to form 64-Mbit cell arrays and confirmed operation of all bits. It has already started making efforts towards commercialization of the ReRAM.

"We want to launch an 8-Gbit product made by using 30nm process technology (as the first product) in 2013," said Takao Adachi, director of Elpida. "We will be ready for full-scale volume production in 2014."

Elpida plans to target the ReRAM at mobile machines such as smartphones, tablet computers and notebook computers. It expects that the ReRAM will be used as cache memory to fill a performance gap between DRAM and NAND flash memory in those machines.

"We hope that it will eventually be a memory that can replace DRAM because mobile machine makers want to reduce the amount of DRAM (which consumes a large amount of power) as much as possible and replace it with nonvolatile memory," Adachi said.

At this point, however, many of its customers that develop video-related stationary machines and want to enhance the speed of SSD are showing interest in the ReRAM, he said.

The new ReRAM is a 1T-1R-type ReRAM developed by using variable resistance elements based on hafnium (Hf) oxide. Its data reading speed is 20ns or faster, and it can be rewritten one million times or more. Elpida plans to completely clarify the mechanism of its operation and reduce the variation in the operation of memory elements in the aim of increasing its capacity to higher than 1 Gbit.

Though the ReRAM was prototyped by using 6F2 cells this time, Elpida intends to use 4F2 cells for volume production of the memory and reduce cell area. It can be mass-produced in production lines for DRAMs. For volume production, the company aims to achieve a bit cost 30% lower than that of DRAM.

Elpida has already decided to develop only ReRAM as its next-generation nonvolatile memory and is not developing MRAM (magnetic random access memory) or PRAM (phase-change random access memory).

The ReRAM was developed in collaboration with Sharp Corp, Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and the University of Tokyo in a project sponsored by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) (See related article). The project was launched in 2010.

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Panasonic and TSMC Tip Resistive RAMs at ISSCC
Foundry looking for embedded memory solution

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By Mark LaPedus, SemiMD senior editor

The emerging resistive RAM (ReRAM) market continues to heat up, as Panasonic and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) will describe new breakthroughs in the arena.

At the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco on Wednesday (Feb. 22), TSMC will describe a ReRAM as part of the silicon foundry’s push in the embedded memory space. TSMC, along with National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan, will disclose the development of a 0.5-Volt, 4-Mbit embedded ReRAM macro, based on a 65nm logic process.

At ISSCC, Panasonic will describe an 8-Mbit multi-layered cross-point ReRAM macro. The device has a 443-MB/second write throughput at 8.2nm pulse widths, which is twice as fast as competing efforts, according to Panasonic. Read access time is said to be 25ns.

Last year, Panasonic claimed to be sampling a 2-Mbit ReRAM, based on a tantalum and oxygen (TaOx) process. The 8-Mbit ReRAM uses the same technology, reportedly based on a 0.18-micron process.



Panasonic's ReRAM structure (Source: Company)

The ISSCC announcements follow what could be the hottest technology within the next-generation memory space. Elpida, Hynix, IMEC, Micron, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and others are working on ReRAM. ReRAM is “based on the electronic switching of a resistor element material between two stable (low/high) resistive states. The major strengths of ReRAM technology are its potential density and speed,” according to IMEC.

FRAM, MRAM, phase-change, ReRAM and others fall into the so-called universal memory category. Developers of these technologies claim their respective technologies can replace DRAM, NAND and NOR — or all three.

Most next-generation memory types have failed to live up to their promises. They are difficult to make and scale. But some claim the floating gate structure in flash is expected to hit the wall at 14nm, thereby fueling the need for a new memory type.

There are a range of emerging applications for next-generation memories. One of the possibilities is so-called storage-class memories. In this application, there is a need for a new and faster memory that sits between the processor and DRAM in a system to boost I/O performance. In theory, a storage-class memory would offload many of the functions in a power-hungry DRAM.

Block diagram of ReRAM from National Tsing Hua University and TSMC (Source: TSMC, National Tsing)
Embedded is another application. Many foundries offer embedded DRAM IP for system LSIs and other applications, but the technology could soon hit the scaling wall.

In embedded applications, “MRAM and ReRAM have the most promise,” said Fu-Lung Hsueh, a TSMC fellow and director of the Design Technology Division for the foundry giant, in a brief interview at ISSCC.

For some time, TSMC and Qualcomm Inc. have been developing an embedded memory based on MRAM technology. In the future, Qualcomm hopes to incorporate the MRAM IP within its cell-phone chip offerings.

ReRAM is another possibility for the embedded market. TSMC and National Tsing Hua University are developing a ReRAM solution. Hsueh said the device is still in the “prototyping” stage and the work is being conducted at the university level.
That device is said to enable short write times at low voltages. The 4-Mbit macro has four 1-Mbit sub-arrays, comprising of 2,048 columns and 512 rows, according to a paper from TSMC and National Tsing Hua. The entities developed a body-drain-driven current-mode sense amplifier (CSA) and small voltage headroom (VHR) for larger sensing margins. Using a new sensing scheme, the device is said to have a 45ns random read time, according to the paper.

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Ook Sandisk zet in op SSD-killer ReRAM
Geheugen van de toekomst
22 februari 2012 | Jan Custers
ZDNet.nl

Flashgeheugenfabrikant Sandisk zet een team van specialisten op de ontwikkeling van ReRAM-geheugen. Dat zou zowel het hedendaagse werk- als opslaggeheugen kunnen vervangen.

Sandisk plaatste vorige week een vacature op zijn website voor een verantwoordelijke van een dertigkoppig onderzoeksteam dat de productie van op memristors gebaseerd resistief RAM-geheugen (ReRAM) mogelijk moet maken. Het doet dat in samenwerking met partner Toshiba. Dat merkte Bright Side of News op.

Technologie evolueert snel
Vorige maand beweerde de Japanse geheugenfabrikant Elpida dat het samen met elektronicagigant Sharp een prototype van ReRAM-geheugen had ontwikkeld met dezelfde lees- en schrijfsnelheden als het DRAM-geheugen in hedendaagse computers.

Ook Panasonic, Sony, Micron, DSI en HP - in samenwerking met Hynix Seminconductor – investeren in de technologie. Die steunt op de revolutionaire ‘memristor’ die HP in 2008 ontwikkelde. Het eerste commerciële ReRAM-product wordt rond 2013 verwacht.

Snel en niet-vluchtig
ReRAM wordt naar voren geschoven als de opvolger van zowel het huidige systeem- als opslaggeheugen in computers. De technologie combineert de lees- en schrijfsnelheid van DRAM-geheugen met de niet-vluchtige aard van flashgeheugen. Dat betekent dat gegevens bewaard blijven als de spanning wegvalt. In theorie zal een computer met genoeg ReRAM-geheugen geen laadtijden meer kennen.

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Samsung realizes ReRAM's rewritability of one trillion times


Resistive Random Access Memory (ReRAM) technology has been making the news rounds throughout the electronic market since its inception back in 1997. Panasonic had led the way for commercial mass production as this next generation iteration of non-volatile memory types is being developed by a multitude of companies. But this time, Samsung has rather notched a level by contriving a performance enhancing technology, which boosts the ReRAM's rewritability capacity to a mind-boggling 1 trillion times!



Fundamentally, this new advanced technology utilizes asymmetric Ta2O5-x/TaO2-x bi-layer laminated film as the resistivity-varying material, instead of the conventional Ta2O5 film. The new material contributes to localized resistance switching. The reduction in switching current in turn allows for lesser power consumption, along with extreme cycling endurance of over 1 trillion.

The figures speak for themselves as this touted one trillion mark capability is about one million times more than that of the latest flash memory. Moreover, with switching times of only 10ns, the fascinating technology can be applied in cases of working-memory space.

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IMEC to detail memristor progress at VLSI Symposia
R. Colin Johnson

PORTLAND, Ore.— The Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC) will report next month on progress to make its memristor variation, called resistive-RAMs (RRAM), the dominate memory technology in four papers at the VLSI Symposia in Honolulu.

At the Symposia June 12 to 15, IMEC (Leuven, Belgium), which claims RRAM will be ready for reliable mass production below 20 nanometers, will describe its cross-bar architecture. IMEC claims the architecture is denser, faster and lower-power than flash, but suitable to replace any memory type, including DRAMs.

IMEC and other research groups backing variations of the memristor claim that, in the future, a single universal memory technology will replace flash memory and all vintages of random-access memories. The memristor was invented by by professor Leon Chua at the University of California-Berkeley and has been championed by Hewlett-Packard Co.

"HP is using the term memristor to describe a device which has certain I-V characteristics," said Malgorzata Jurczak, program manager memory devices at IMEC. "But such I-V characteristics are typical to any RRAM cell using oxygen vacancy migration in transition metal oxide."

HP is sandwiching titanium-oxides in its memristive crossbar arrays, but at VLSI Symposia IMEC will describe using hafnium-oxide and other formulations for its RRAMs. In addition, there are two different ways of performing the resistive switching, using interfacial modification where oxygen vacancies are migrated either towards or away from the interface, thus modulating the tunneling barrier between the electrode and the conductive part of the oxide. Alternatively, filamentary switching aligns the oxygen vacancies in a conduction path which can be ruptured or established by oxygen vacancy migration. Either way, the advantage is the same—ultra-high density cross-bar arrays that use programming voltages to migrate oxygen vacancies, thereby changing the resistance of the bit-cell in a non-volatile manner.

"HP is claiming to using interfacial type of switching," said Jurczak. "But in our papers we are using filamentary switching."

IMEC will report that it has achieved ultra-fast sub-nanosecond programming times and ultra-low power sub-500 nanoamp operating currents using filamentary switching. IMEC will also report improved bit-cell reliability by virtue of its sophisticated materials stack engineering.

"We are overcoming the scaling limitations of conventional flash memory cells," said Jurczak. "Major memory players joined our research program on emerging memory technologies, proving the value of our RRAM research to the global industry."

Summary titles of IMEC's four papers are: "Dynamic ‘Hour Glass’ Model for Set and Reset in Hafnium Oxide RRAM," "Ultralow sub-500nA Operating Current in High-Performance Bipolar RRAM Achieved Through Understanding-Based Stack-Engineering," "Process-Improved RRAM Cell Performance and Reliability and Paving the Way for Manufacturability and Scalability for High Density Memory Application," and "Field-Driven Ultrafast sub-ns RRAM Programming."

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Intel bouwt chip die hersenen nabootst

Door Bauke Schievink, maandag 18 juni 2012

Intel heeft een chip gemaakt die op vergelijkbare wijze werkt als het neurale netwerk in de hersenen. Zo zorgen de componenten in de chip er onder meer voor dat een elektrisch signaal net als bij neuronen via pulsen worden doorgestuurd.

De technologie is gebaseerd op lateral spin valves en memristors. De eerstgenoemde zijn kleine magneetjes die hun magnetisch veld van richting kunnen laten veranderen op basis van de spin van elektronen. Tezamen met memristors, weerstanden met geheugen, levert dit een circuit op waarin de elektrische signalen niet met een constante spanning worden doorgestuurd, maar juist pulserend werken.

Volgens de onderzoekers, die werkzaam zijn bij Intel, werken de spin valves in de chip op een aanzienlijk lagere spanning dan conventionele chips. De benodigde spanning is volgens de makers uit te drukken in millivolts, net als de neuronen in de hersenen. Uiteindelijk moet een dergelijk systeem, dat een neuromorphic chip wordt genoemd, het stroomverbruik kunnen terugdringen met een factor 15 tot 300 ten opzichte van conventionele chips.

In de hersenen worden ook elektrische circuits gevormd, waarvan neuronen de basis zijn. Zij vormen een elektrisch systeem waarin zij na activiatie signalen in pulsvorm doorsturen. Daarbij wordt een sterker signaal weergegeven door een hogere frequentie van elektrische prikkels. Uiteindelijk worden de signalen geïntegreerd in het centrale zenuwstelsel, waarvan het brein het hoofdbestanddeel is.

De door Intel ontworpen chip kan ingezet worden om rekenkernen mee te maken die op vergelijkbare wijze werken als de hersenen, waardoor simulatie gemakkelijker wordt. Dergelijke systemen kunnen worden ingezet om de hersenen te bestuderen, maar ook om meer rekenkracht mogelijk te maken bij een lager stroomverbruik. Wel is daarvoor meer onderzoek nodig. Hoewel een neuromorphic chip al voor hersenachtige systemen kan worden ingezet, is er meer nodig om daarvan een volledig functionerend systeem te maken.

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Op maandag 18 juni 2012 15:55 schreef Ai_KaRaMBa het volgende:

[..]

Uhm, nee? Transistor en diode zijn wel fundamentele elementen. Het onderscheid zit hier tussen passieve lineare componenten en actieve non-lineare componenten (halfgeleiders). Een memristor is geen passief linear component, en zal dus ook niet in dat rijtje passen.

Verder is een natuurkundige eenheid van memristor ook kolder als ik je verhaal goed begrijp, want je kan dmv een instelstroom (ampere) boven drempelspanning (volt) de weerstand (ohm) onder de drempelspanning instellen. Dat is dus prima uit te drukken als een verband tussen de andere grootheden, en daar hoeft dus geen nieuwe grootheid voor bedacht te worden lijkt me...

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Op maandag 18 juni 2012 18:20 schreef Ai_KaRaMBa het volgende:
Ik bedoelde component idd; maar feit blijft dat die menristor ook een halfgeleider is, net als de transistor en diode. toch?

edit: artikel bekeken, en daar noemen ze het ook "basic element"... dubieus ?!

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Aren't there other fundamental passive devices that don't add energy to a circuit? What about diodes?


No, there are only four fundamental types of passive circuit elements. Diodes are just non-linear resistors - the resistance of a diode changes with the applied voltage, but if you turn off the voltage and start back at 0 volts, the resistance of the diode is the same as it was before at 0 volts, not what it was when the voltage was turned off. This is also true of a resistor that heats up and increases its resistance because of a temperature increase. Thus, neither a diode nor a heated resistor 'remember' their history. However, each type of fundamental circuit element is actually a family of devices with essentially an infinite number of higher order members. To see all the members of the four families of fundamental devices, see the following paper: Leon O. Chua, "Nonlinear Circuit Foundations for Nanodevices, Part I: The Four-Element Torus," Proc. IEEE 91, 1830-1859 (2003). This is a very educational paper, but requires a significant investment in effort to appreciate. Note: Part II has not appeared in the literature yet.

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Pc's met nieuw geheugenelement memristor pas in 2014
AMSTERDAM - HP-computers met de memristor, een nieuw geheugenelement waardoor chips onder meer energiezuiniger en goedkoper moeten worden, zijn vertraagd tot begin 2014.

Foto: HP Dat laat het hoofd van de onderzoeksafdeling van HP weten.

In eerste instantie zouden de producten met memristors, een afkorting voor memory resistor, al in 2013 beschikbaar zijn.

De grootste pc-fabrikant wereldwijd maakte de ontdekking van het nieuwe elektronische component in 2008 al bekend en omschrijft het als 'het godselement in de elektronica'.

Geheugen

De memristor zou de opvolger van de transistor moeten worden. Door het nieuwe geheugenelement moeten processors veel energiezuiniger worden en zal het productieproces van chips goedkoper moeten zijn.

Op termijn zou de memristor zelfs het opslaan van gegevens op het werkgeheugen fundamenteel kunnen veranderen. Het component kan het werkgeheugen en vaste opslag namelijk combineren. Nu is dat nog gescheiden en worden gegevens op verschillende plekken opgeslagen.

Vervangen

De memristor kan alle gegevens op één plek opslaan en zo flashgeheuden, SSD, en RAM-geheugen vervangen. Dat levert ruimtebesparing in computers op. Ook is het geheugen dan niet meer gevoelig voor stroomuitval.

Niet alleen computers zullen profiteren van de nieuwe technologie, alle elektronische apparaten kunnen gebruikmaken van memristors.

2014

Apparaten met de nieuwe techniek komen waarschijnlijk pas in 2014 uit omdat er grote economische belangen aan de lancering verbonden zijn. Zo moet Hynix, de partner van HP bij het produceren van memristors, een flinke verandering ondergaan. Nu produceert het bedrijf bijvoorbeeld nog flashgeheugen.