Everspin and Globalfoundries team up on MRAM

Non-Volatile memory for the masses or at least mass production

Oct 27, 2014 by

Everspin logoEverspin is teaming up with Globalfoundries to offer MRAM on 40nm and 28nm processes. This is an interesting move considering the last devices we saw from them were on 180nm.

There isn’t too much to say about the deal other than it could result in some interesting NVRAM products on the market. Last time we looked at Everspin they were putting out 1Mb devices on a 180nm process with 130nm 4Mb devices impending. Even with those paltry sizes, by normal DRAM and flash standards anyway, there were customers like LSI. Having DRAM compatible NVRAM is a nice thing to have if you can live with the size and cost. That said it could save money via the DDR compatibility, making your own DRAM speed NVRAM solutions can be pricey.

In any case it looks like Everspin has made or is about to make the jump from process nodes with three digit numbers to a mostly current process node. From a 130nm device to 28nm means about four shrinks, a doubling of density per step would get them to 64Mb chips or so, probably more if you consider the 4x increase from 180nm to 130. In any case it won’t threaten the flash giants any time soon but it could have some very interesting applications.

If you only look at Everspin MRAM as a NV DRAM device that doesn’t need refreshes it has all sorts of interesting applications in the mobile and IoT spaces. For many of these devices it will be cost prohibitive but some high value applications are a good fit. In any case thanks to the GF/Everspin partnership you will be able to get much larger devices and more of them, probably cheaper ones too. Better yet it will probably be usable as an option in GF made parts, a few KB worth could go a long way.S|A

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Charlie Demerjian

Roving engine of chaos and snide remarks at SemiAccurate
Charlie Demerjian is the founder of Stone Arch Networking Services and SemiAccurate.com. SemiAccurate.com is a technology news site; addressing hardware design, software selection, customization, securing and maintenance, with over one million views per month. He is a technologist and analyst specializing in semiconductors, system and network architecture. As head writer of SemiAccurate.com, he regularly advises writers, analysts, and industry executives on technical matters and long lead industry trends. Charlie is also available through Guidepoint and Mosaic. FullyAccurate