Motorola spinoff Freescale delivers first MRAM

Stan Beer
Monday, 10 July 2006 20:46

Business IT - Technology

Freescale Semiconductor has produced the first commercial non-volatile RAM product that can compete with normal RAM for speed and endurance but maintain its memory when the power is switched off. Freescale, which was spun-off from Motorola in 2004, says the first commercial Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM) device is now in volume production. Potentially, MRAM could make all other forms of memory and storage obsolete, including normal RAM, Flash and magnetic storage.

MRAM uses ferromagnetic material to store data and therefore doesn't rely on power like standard RAM to keep data stored. It consists of arrays of magnetic memory cells in which the information is stored as the magnetization direction of tiny ferromagnetic elements. It has the speed of ordinary volatile RAM without the need for power. Unlike slower Flash RAM, which also doesn't need power to maintain storage, MRAM can be reliably written to, erased and overwritten almost indefinitively.

According to Freescale, its 4 Mbit MRAM product is a fast, non-volatile memory with unlimited endurance. Freescale's successful commercialization of MRAM technology, which companies such as IBM, Cypress, Infineon, Micron have also been working on, could hasten new classes of electronic products offering dramatic advances in size, cost, power consumption and system performance.

"The commercial launch of the industry's first MRAM product is a major milestone made possible by the pioneering research of Freescale technologists. It underscores our commitment to deliver breakthrough technology to our customers to address real-world challenges," said Sumit Sadana, senior vice president, Strategy and Business Development, and Chief Technology Officer, Freescale. "The unique capabilities of MRAM technology have numerous exciting applications in our target markets."

"With the commercialization of MRAM, Freescale is the first-to-market with a technology of tremendous possibilities and profound implications," said Bob Merritt, Semico Research. "Competition to become the first company to market MRAM technology was fierce. This is a significant achievement that certainly confirms the dedication of Freescale's engineering team."

Freescale's first commercial MRAM product, called the MR2A16A, has a variety of commercial applications such as networking, security, data storage, gaming and printers. According to Freescale, the product is engineered to be a replacement for battery-backed SRAM units. It also could be used in cache buffers, configuration storage memories and other applications that require the speed, endurance and non-volatility of MRAM.