This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will result in a high throughput, large area, Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) tool for the production of device grade chalcogenide films for chalcogenide random access memory (C-RAM) non-volatile memory. Current non-volatile memory technology (flash memory) is rapidly approaching its density limit, and C-RAM is one of the top contenders as the next generation non-volatile memory technology, due to its small cell size, fast write/erase speed, low write/erase voltage, high endurance and radiation hardness. However, current state-of-the-art C-RAM technology relies on sputtering to deposit the active chalcogenide layer. This sputtering process limits further device improvement because of difficulties in meeting requirements for device conformality, film adherence and compositional control and wafer yield. CVD is the industry standard deposition technology for volume production of high quality thin films, but currently no tools for chalcogenide deposition are available.
C-RAM memory promises to be the next generation technology for non-volatile memory in commercial and military computing applications, and should capture a substantial portion of the $34B (2007) non-volatile memory market. The availability of this new high density, long-lived memory technology will enable smaller, faster, more reliable computing for a host of commercial and military applications.
