Crocus gets funding for x8
multibit magnetic semiconductor memory
Editor:- April 8, 2013 -
Crocus Technology
today
announced it has
been awarded a contract from IARPA
to develop an 8-bit per cell memory based on its Magnetic Logic Unit
technology.
This will greatly reduce the energy consumed per
written-bit compared to any other memory technology, including DRAM, Flash,
SRAM and MRAM.
Douglas
Lee, VP, product development at Crocus compared the 8 bits per cell
which the company thinks it can get from its MLU technology with the
state-of-the-art in nand flash - which is 3-4 bits per cell and also compared
to alternative magnetic semiconductor technologies like MRAM - which is
still only 1 bit per cell storage (SLC).
2017 could be 1st billion dollar year for non-flash nvm
Editor:-
February 18, 2013 - Yole
Developments recently
published
a new market report - Emerging Non-Volatile Memories (5,990 euros) which
describes why and how emerging alternative
NVM (FRAM, MRAM/STTMRAM,
PCM, RRAM) could grow from $209 million revenue in 2012 to $2 billion in
2018.
Among other things - the report says 3D RRAM could start to be
used in SSDs in 2017-2018, when 3D NAND's scalability prospects are
anticipated to worsen.
Everspin quadruples MRAM chip R/W
Editor:- February
26, 2013 - Everspin
Technologies today
announced
it will sample the first of a new family of MRAM chips in Q2.
The
MR10Q010 (1Mb in a 16 pin SOIC) has a quad SPI serial interface instead of the
single line interface offered in earlier MRAM devices. This makes it more
attractive for applications which need the simplicity of no wear-out
non volatile memory and
fast write performance in low capacity and small footprint applications.
Proton gets funds to rejuvenate flash
Editor:-
February 7, 2013 - Proton
Digital Systems today announced
the completion of its $2 million seed round to support continued development
and expansion of its LDPC-based flash read channel IP products that increase
the
endurance
and longevity of
flash memory.
Proton's IP is currently licensed for enterprise and consumer applications and
has already been adopted by some of the world's largest flash memory companies.
See
also:-
adaptive R/W
and DSP IP in SSDs,
SSD controllers,
how to market flash
management care schemes for SSDs
new! - the Top SSD Companies in Q4 2012
Editor:-
January 14, 2013 - StorageSearch.com
has published the 23rd quarterly edition of the
Top SSD Companies List
- which ranks companies based on search volume in the 4th quarter of 2012.
...read series
overview,
...the new list
1/3 of Micron's nand flash trade sales go into SSDs
Editor:-
December 20, 2012 - Micron
today
announced
that revenues from sales of its NAND flash products were 4% lower in the
quarter ended November 29, 2012 than they had been a year ago.
Sales
volume of the company's nand flash decreased by 9% - but average selling
prices increased 5%. Overall Micrion reported a net loss in the quarter of $275
million on sales of $1.8 billion.
In a
conference
call Micron said that SSD shipments had grown 20% compared to the previous
quarter. SSDs are 17% of Micron's nand business and the company estimates that
35% of the nand flash it supplies to trade customers end up in SSDs. MLC
was about 80% to 85% of nand flash wafer production with SLC and TLC making up
the rest.
experimental technique eliminates flash endurance limit
Editor:-
December 2, 2012 - An article in IEEE
Spectrum -
Flash
Memory Survives 100 Million Cycles - summarizes a recent research paper by
Macronix -
which described an experimental technique to redesign flash cells to improve
endurance.
The
technique - which StorageSearch.com does not think is feasible to scale for
commercially competitive memory densities - involves designing addressable
heaters in the memory array which can pulse upto 800 degrees C for a few
milliseconds. This thermal "refreshing cycle" anneals the chip
material and heals common wear-out defects while also enabling the cells to be
run faster.
"Afterward, we realized that there was no new physics
principle invented here, and we could have done this 10 years ago" said
Hang-Ting Lue,
the project director at Macronix
Crocus will sample secure fast MRAM controllers in January
Editor:-
November 5, 2012 - Crocus
Technology today
announced
that in January 2013 it will sample high speed 1.2MB MRAM SIMs and small
secure MRAM controllers - or what the company prefers to call - "Magnetic
Logic Units" - which are aimed at the
NFC-enabled
smartphones market.
"The CT32MLU product family breaks the barrier
of traditional
non-volatile memory that
will provide smartcard makers with best-in-class secure element microcontrollers
with a 20 to 30% smaller footprint," said Alain Faburel,
VP security business unit at Crocus Technology.
Micron in volume production of 1Gb PCM
Editor:- July
18, 2012 - Micron
today
announced
it was the 1st company to be in volume production of Phase Change Memory
(PCM).
The company's 45nm memories have upto 1Gb in a multichip
package.
Editor's comments:- PCM fans will get excited about
this.
But before we get carried away on a tidal wave of PCM SSD
speculation let's recall the reason we still use flash to implement the bulk
storage capacity in nearly all SSDs (despite flash's many
defects and
complex ramifications).
It's economics.
PCM
can be viable as an alternative to battery backed
RAM in the
cache part of a
flash SSD. Some SSD oems have already done that. But PCM's storage density
is too low to replace flash in mainstream SSD applications for at least the next
3 years.
You can read more about various nvm technologies which were
going to make flash obsolete (including details of the 1st PCM PCIe SSD which
was unveiled a year ago) in my article
flash SSD's past phantom
demons
Hynix acquires DSP SSD IP company LAMD
Editor:- June
20, 2012 -SK Hynix
today
announced
it has entered into an agreement to acquire California-based storage solution
company Link_A_Media
Devices.
The reason for the acquisition should be clear if you
read the article on my home page yesterday about the new generations of
adaptive SSD controllers. The
roadmap for flash memory
is dependent on these technologies to enable workable SSDs.
TrendFocus launches new memories in SSDs report
Editor:-
May 2, 2012 - have you ever wondered what percentage of a memory maker's SSD
output is SLC or MLC or TLC? and other things like that?
TrendFocus
has launched a new NAND/SSD Information Service which includes that kind of
data. The company says that the SSD section of the report will include client
and enterprise SSD memory shipments and forecasts.
new nv market size report from Web-Feet
Editor:-
April 13, 2012 - Web-Feet
Research has consolidated the reported shipments from 17 main flash
makers to conclude that the flash memory market in 2011 was worth nearly $29
billion - an increase of 8% from 2010.
Web-Feet's market
report - the 2011 Non Volatile Memory Market Shares by Vendor report ($2,500)
includes market shares by vendor for total nv memory (all types) and includes
breakdowns by vendor and forecasts. For more info contact:- Alan Niebel -
alan.niebel@web-feetresearch.com
STT secures $36 million A round for OST-MRAM
Editor:-
February 15, 2012 - Spin
Transfer Technologies today
announced
it has secured $36 million in Series A funding - led by its parent company,
Allied Minds and
Invesco Asset Management -
to accelerate development of STT's patented orthogonal spin transfer
magneto resistive random access memory technology (OST-MRAM).
STT says
"the company is poised to create the next generation of memory
applications combining the non-volatility of flash with the read and write
performance of DRAM and SRAM into one, seamless product."
Rambus gets into the nv memory IP market
Editor:-
February 6, 2012 -Rambus
today
announced
it has acquired Unity
Semiconductor for an aggregate of $35 million in cash.
As
part of this acquisition, the Unity team members have joined Rambus to continue
developing innovations and solutions for next-generation
non-volatile
memory.
world's first PCIe PCM SSD
Editor:- June 14, 2011 -
NVSL ( the Non-Volatile Systems
Lab at UCSD) recently
demonstrated
a prototype PCIe PCM (phase-change memory) SSD - with R/W speeds upto 1.1GB/s
and 327MB/s respectively and 8GB usable capacity.
A spokesperson for
the Moneta SSD design team - Professor
Steven Swanson said "...Moneta gives us a window into the future of
what computer storage systems are going to look like, and gives us the
opportunity now to rethink how we design computer systems in response."
Swanson says he hopes to build the 2nd generation of the Moneta
storage device in the next 6 to 9 months and says the technology could be ready
for market in just a few years as the underlying phase-change memory technology
improves.
Editor's comments:- in a white paper
Protoype
PCM Storage Array (pdf) the team outlines the design and architecture of
their PCM SSD prototype and also compares aspects of performance with entry
level PCIe flash SSDs from
Fusion-io. In a
recent article
I warned that you should not pay too much heed to comparative PCIe SSD
benchmarks - because from different arbitrary selected angles they can "prove"
different arbitrary performance rankings. I wouldn't be surprised if some
investors take fright that a PCM SSD scored higher than a Fusion-io SSD in some
of the published graphs. But for those who understand SSD architecture it
doesn't reveal anything new.
In my view this prototype clearly
demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of PCM as an SSD technology.
PCM SSD strengths vs flash
The granularity of writes
in PCM is smaller and faster - which means that small R/W operations have higher
IOPS. If you have apps where that is important you can simply buy
SSDs with various
ratios of integrated RAM cache. That would give you small block IOPS
better than PCM - end of story. PCM has higher
endurance
than SLC - which means that the
SSD controller
overhead applied to endurance can be lighter than in most flash systems. Hence
potentially faster latency through to the media.
PCM SSD
weaknesses vs flash
The prototype PCIe SSD card provides capacity
which is similar to RAM SSD
density - but with a large block R/W throughput which is much lower than
flash arrays. This
implementation used 16MB PCM chips.
Flash allows higher capacity writes
to a single chip - and this gives better peak performance results than PCM when
exploited in parallel architecture arrays. You can't get those flash peak
performance numbers from a PCM array in the same board footrpint - because many
PCM chips have to be written to concurrently to achieve the same capacity R/W
as a single flash chip. That means with today's technologies - flash SSDs
have a higher proportion of ready to write memory chips in the same chip count
population as PCM SSDs.
For more about alternative SSD technologies -
see SSD's past phantoms.
SANBlaze ships PCIe to 1.8" SSD RAID adapter
June
13, 2011 - SANBlaze
Technology is shipping a new
rear
transition module which connects upto 8x
1.8" SSDs to
PCIe with
RAID options.
new report looks at NAND flash succession
Editor:-
January 11, 2011 - Forward Insights
and its research collaborators have compiled an in-depth, independent analysis
which analyzes the options for various
non volatile memory
technologies which could become viable in storage after floating gate NAND flash
hits fundamental scaling limitations
What's after
NAND? (pdf outline) is the product of experts in floating gate and charge
trap flash, and resistive and emerging memory technologies. This new report
(price $10k) evaluates 3D NAND and cross point memory concepts from Hynix,
Intel, Macronix, Micron, Samsung, SanDisk, Toshiba and Unity and concludes with
a roadmap till the end of the decade.
Toshiba integrates ECC into raw flash
Editor:-
April 5, 2011 - Toshiba
announced it is sampling
SmartNAND
- 24nm flash memory chips (with upto 64GB capacity) with integrated ECC
controllers to simplify the design of consumer products which need storage.
"Toshiba's
new SmartNAND will provide our customers a smoother design experience into 24nm
generation and beyond," said Scott Nelson, VP, Memory Business
Unit, Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. "By enabling the system
designer to directly manage the NAND using a standard or custom host NAND
controller, while leaving the function of error correction within the NAND
package, SmartNAND results in faster time to market, access to leading
geometries and potentially lowers design costs when compared to conventional
NAND flash implementations with external ECC."
will Micron's enhanced flash really eliminate error concerns?
Editor:-
December 3, 2010 - Micron
recently announced availability of enhanced 16GB to 64GB 25nm
MLC
flash memory chips with integrated error management - which the company
says - removes the burden of ECC from the host and simplifies the use of flash
in enterpise apps.
Editor's comments:- as discussed in my recent article -
bad block
management in flash SSDs good blocks and less good blocks have always
coexisted in flash memory. But as device geometries shrink (to increase
capacity and speed) the margin of error between usable and non usable cells has
shrunk too. In practical terms this means that the raw media quaility of new
flash chips has declined in the past decade from under 1% defects, then 2%, 5%
and I've seen projections as high as 10% for emerging MLC.
read longer version of
comments
new book - Inside NAND Flash
Editor:- November 17,
2010 - Forward
Insights (an SSD
analyst company) is one of the contributers to a new book called -
Inside
NAND Flash Memories.
The publishers say that
SSD designers must
understand flash technology in order to exploit its benefits and countermeasure
its weaknesses. The new book is a comprehensive guide to the NAND world -
from circuits design (analog and digital) to
reliability.
Web-Feet reports on Storage Class Memories
Editor:-
October 18, 2010 - Web-Feet
Research has just released its latest technology assessment report on
Flash Memory, DRAM and the rise of alternative Non Volatile Memories and Storage
Class Memories in -
MTS650FT-2010
(summary pdf) - price $7,500.
This new report evaluates the
most promising SCM memories: PCM, STT-RAM, MRAM, Z-RAM, ReRAM, CBRAM, QsRAM,
and FeRAM. The manufacturability of SCM storage is evaluated for: CMOx, PCM-S,
RRAM-S, 3D NAND and some claims that SST-MRAM can fulfill the storage function.
new Samsung phone flash
Editor:- September 7, 2010 -
Samsung Electronics
today introduced high-performance 16GB
e-MMC
4.41 compatible
moviNAND
embedded memory chips for use in smartphones.
A new feature enables the
host to interrupt a previously written write so as to respond sooner to
a higher priority read.
SSD readers intro to Nanocrystal Memories
Editor:-
June 30, 2010 - a recent blog from
Denali Software
describes the
characteristics
of nanocrystal memories - a flash-like
nv memory technology from
Freescale
Semiconductor.
This
comparison
table on Freescale's web site suggests 10x faster write cycle - and
upto 30x
endurance
(10 million cycles) than traditional flash. The technology is shipping in some
embedded microprocessors.
Macronix research pushes flash density
Editor:- June
16, 2010 - Macronix
today
announced
its research results related to its patented BE SONOS (barrier engineering)
charge-trapping technology which could make terabit NAND flash feasible.
Using 3D stacking, NAND Flash may achieve higher data storage capacity
and effectively lower fabrication cost without relying on advances in
lithography technology. Consequently some memory manufacturers have invested in
3D research recently.
Samsung ships 512Mb PRAM
Editor:- April 28, 2010 - Samsung Electronics
today
announced
shipments of a 512Mb PRAM MCP which is is backwards compatible with 40nm
NOR flash memory in both
its hardware and software functionality allowing mobile handset designers the
convenience of retrofitting the 3x faster writing PRAM into exisiting
designs based on NOR.
Everspin samples industry's first 16Mb MRAM
Editor:-
April 19, 2010 - Everspin
Technologies
announced
it is sampling a 16Mb MRAM.
The MR4A16B is a 3.3-volt, parallel I/O
non-volatile RAM that features 35ns access times with unlimited read/write
cycles. Data is always non-volatile after each write for more than 20 years. In
addition, MRAM is immune to soft error rates associated with cosmic rays that
impact other memories. The 16Mb MRAM is organized as 1,048,576 words of 16 bits.
Pin and function-compatible with asynchronous SRAM, the MR4A16B targets
industrial automation, robotics, network and data storage, multi-function
printers and a host of other systems traditionally limited to SRAM-based
designs. | |
