Nantero, Inc. announced today
that it has fabricated and successfully tested a 22-nanometer(nm) NRAM
memory switch. This switch demonstrates that NRAM is scalable to
numerous process technology nodes over several decades. NRAM is a
rewritable memory device that holds its data content without power, making
it a potential universal memory and an ideal solution for numerous
applications, including portable consumer products.
In addition to the advanced R&D work that resulted in the fabrication
of the 22nm NRAM switch, Nantero is also engaged in the development of
NRAM memory chips at technology nodes in use today. This development is
being conducted in production CMOS fabs, and Nantero has already developed
a production-compatible process for making NRAM, using only existing
tools and processes. Nantero's NRAM switches have been tested by
writing and reading data using three (3) nanosecond cycle times, giving it
the potential to match the fastest memories in production today.
NRAM switches are fabricated using Nantero's proprietary carbon
nanotube fabric, covered by US patent 6,706,402. Nantero now has over 80
patent applications pending covering multiple aspects of carbon nanotube
use in electronics, of which over a dozen have been granted.
The semiconductor industry is actively evaluating emerging memory
technologies in their search for a new scalable memory technology because
the memory devices in use today are not expected to scale beyond very few
additional process technology nodes.
Greg Schmergel, Nantero's co-founder and CEO, stated, "These results
demonstrate that NRAM can be the standalone and embedded memory of
choice. NRAM combines the nonvolatility of flash with the speed of SRAM
and the density of DRAM." Greg noted, "We have also proven that NRAM
can be scaled for many future generations and we believe the scaling will
continue down to below the 5nm technology node."
