This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop novel electric-field-controlled magnetic memory devices, where switching of the nonvolatile memory bits is performed by voltages (i.e. electric fields), rather than spin-polarized currents or magnetic fields, for extremely low energy dissipation applications. These memory devices will be used in a Magnetoelectric Random Access Memory (MeRAM), providing significant advantages in terms of energy efficiency (up to 100x), density (up to 10x), and scalability (down to <10nm) compared to state-of-the-art magnetic memories (MRAM) such as spin transfer torque (STT-MRAM). The improved energy efficiency results from the suppression of Ohmic losses (heating) since no currents are used. This project will focus on development and optimization of magnetic bit designs for MeRAM. Their performance will be tested and compared to identify the most promising candidates for product development.
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be in the broad area of advanced low-power electronics. In particular, the high memory density allows for MeRAM to be used as a nonvolatile alternative to replace dynamic random access memory (DRAM, a $37B market), making it nonvolatile and improving its speed, energy efficiency, and scalability. Additionally, the excellent energy efficiency of MeRAM allows it to be integrated with CMOS, potentially resulting in revolutionary new applications in ultralow-power logic for mobile systems on chip (SoC). This will result in instant-on nonvolatile electronics, which can be powered on/off instantaneously without the loss of information. It allows for an entirely new user experience where traditional boot-up and shut-down times are eliminated, and provides energy savings by eliminating standby power, representing a new paradigm in electronics. MeRAM is the only nonvolatile memory technology that meets all the requirements for such applications.
Overview and Summary of Outcomes: Inston’s new Magnetoelectric Random Access Memory (MeRAMTM) is positioned to solve the challenges of power dissipation, latency, reliability and cost of big data businesses. It is a novel electric-field-controlled magnetic memory (data storage) technology, in which writing of information is performed using a new patented device structure, providing major advantages in terms of power dissipation, cost, density, and scalability. In this project, Inston Inc. is developing and plans to commercialize MeRAM prototype chips. The project involves materials and device development, array fabrication and testing, circuit design, and modeling. The memory technology is targeted for use in big data applications, networking, and as embedded memory for wireless products. Under Phase I and IB, Inston successfully developed and demonstrated memory devices (bits of information) based on its MeRAM concept. The functionality was proven and compared to existing or other emerging memory technologies, and was shown to exhibit more than 10x advantages in energy efficiency and several other key figures of merit. The results will be used to develop MeRAM memory chips for use in low-power electronics, data storage systems and other markets. Intellectual Merit: This project focused on the development of prototype MeRAM chips and arrays. During Phase I, we successfully developed, tested, and demonstrated the performance of MeRAM bit designs that are based on Inston's patented technology. We will build on these results to go beyond a single-bit demonstration and develop array prototypes. The project, in addition to adressing a technical problem of immediate industry relevance, provides significant new insights into the physics and engineering of magnetic nanostructures for data storage and memory. The activities include detailed characterization of arrays of memory bits and their electrical performance. Innovations and optimization of the material stack and device designs for superior performance and ensuring manufacturing compatibility were also performed. Broader/Commercial Impact: The electronics industry is quickly transforming from a compute-centric model to a data-centric model, where the key to success in the market place is the ability to store, manipulate and access large amounts of data in a fast and energy-efficient manner. Superior performance and economic viability are now associated with the delivery of applications and services directly from the cloud, with ever-increasing demands on the underlying technologies used to store the information. This trend is unsustainable with existing memory technologies. On the long term, "memories for big data" require radically lower power consumption, higher speed, lower cost per bit, higher density, high reliability, and better scalability to ensure cost-effective storage and reliable retrieval of massive data over the next few decades. This changing landscape of the data industry offers a major potential for emerging memory technologies that can successfully address these new emerging demands. We expect that MeRAM will be able to capture a part of this market. More broadly, it can be used in many general computing and information processing systems, offering a paradigm change towards instant-on, low latency and ultralow-power nonvolatile systems.
