Samsung and Numonyx today announced that they will jointly develop common specifications for phase change memory (PCM). Common specifications are necessary to drive the adoption of PCM, particularly since OEMs do not want to be beholden to one supplier. The development of common specifications is analogous to what Intel and ST did in NOR flash starting with the 90nm NOR flash generation and resulted in Intel and ST being dual sourced at major OEMs.
The bit alterability of PCM make it attractive in simplifying firmware and reducing system overhead, however, adoption of PCM will likely be limited until costs approach that of flash memories. With a 45nm 1Gb PCM chip scheduled for production for the end of 2009, Numonyx will be closing the gap with NOR flash, however it'll take much longer for a new memory technology to break out of its niche status, if at all. Just take a look at where FRAM and MRAM are today.
This colloboration is the right step to facilitate the development of the infrastructure supporting PCM. Samsung's backing is a validation of the technology and also provides OEMs the confidence to commit themselves to this emerging memory technology.
Showing posts with label flash memory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flash memory. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Spansion Becoming an IP Company
Struggling to achieve profitability in its core business, Spansion has now turned to monetizing its portfolio of 3,000 patent and patent applications. Its first victim: Samsung. Spansion has filed two separate patent infringement claims against the company with the International Trade Commission and in the U.S. District Court in Delaware. Spansion is seeking an injunction in both cases on the sales of electronic devices containing Samsung flash memory and requesting treble damages in the Delaware claim for knowingly violating the patents.
Spansion is claiming Samsung infringed on 10 patents with four of them filed in the ITC complaint and six in the Delaware claim. The patents in question are related to NAND flash memory and include process patents describing methods of forming of the interpoly dielectric, shallow trench isolation as well as programming schemes. The patents, granted between 1998 and 2002, were filed by AMD, the pedigree of Spansion. AMD developed NAND technology and introduced a 64Mb UltraNAND on 0.25um technology in 1998. UltraNAND was supposed to do one better than NAND - 100% good blocks and 100k program/erase cycles without ECC - but it never took off and was subsequently shelved.
Why didn't Spansion instead go after Samsung, the No. 3 NOR vendor, with its much larger portfolio of floating gate NOR flash patents? Any successful claims against Samsung are likely to hurt more on the NAND side because of the size of Samsung's NAND business and the more diversified customer base. In addition, it's harder for Samsung to strike back because Spansion has no products based on floating gate NAND.
Spansion also claims to have the strongest portfolio of patents related to charge-trapping (CTF) technology which may be required to extend NAND flash below 30nm. However, it's not clear how applicable Mirrorbit patents are to SONOS NAND because the programming/erase mechanisms and gate stack are different. Spansion may be trying to plug that hole by commericalizing the first SONOS NAND - ORNAND2. In addition to satisfying its own demand for a NAND device in its MCPs, ORNAND2 is also a learning vehicle for developing CTF NAND IP. It'll be interesting to see what innovations Spansion introduces when ORNAND2 starts ramping in production the 2nd half of 2009 on 43nm.
Spansion is claiming Samsung infringed on 10 patents with four of them filed in the ITC complaint and six in the Delaware claim. The patents in question are related to NAND flash memory and include process patents describing methods of forming of the interpoly dielectric, shallow trench isolation as well as programming schemes. The patents, granted between 1998 and 2002, were filed by AMD, the pedigree of Spansion. AMD developed NAND technology and introduced a 64Mb UltraNAND on 0.25um technology in 1998. UltraNAND was supposed to do one better than NAND - 100% good blocks and 100k program/erase cycles without ECC - but it never took off and was subsequently shelved.
Why didn't Spansion instead go after Samsung, the No. 3 NOR vendor, with its much larger portfolio of floating gate NOR flash patents? Any successful claims against Samsung are likely to hurt more on the NAND side because of the size of Samsung's NAND business and the more diversified customer base. In addition, it's harder for Samsung to strike back because Spansion has no products based on floating gate NAND.
Spansion also claims to have the strongest portfolio of patents related to charge-trapping (CTF) technology which may be required to extend NAND flash below 30nm. However, it's not clear how applicable Mirrorbit patents are to SONOS NAND because the programming/erase mechanisms and gate stack are different. Spansion may be trying to plug that hole by commericalizing the first SONOS NAND - ORNAND2. In addition to satisfying its own demand for a NAND device in its MCPs, ORNAND2 is also a learning vehicle for developing CTF NAND IP. It'll be interesting to see what innovations Spansion introduces when ORNAND2 starts ramping in production the 2nd half of 2009 on 43nm.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Intel and Micron Leapfrog the Competition
Intel and Micron announced today that it will be sampling a 34nm 32Gb MLC NAND flash to customers in June with production slated for the second half of 2008. Owing to the aggressive gate half-pitch, immersion lithography with self-aligned double patterning employing spacers is most likely being used. Also expect changes in the bitline and wordline materials as well as a higher k interpoly dielectric in comparison to the 50nm generation.
At 172mm2, Intel-Micron's 32Gb product will be the only 32Gb monolithic MLC device capable of fitting in a TSOP package. If the ramp of IMFT's 50nm 16Gb device is any guide, we should expect to see volume in December or in early Q1/09. It's quite remarkable that Intel-Micron have managed to catch up and surpass the other NAND flash vendors on process technology in the short span of three years. IMFT achieved this milestone by skipping the 6xnm and 4xnm nodes. However, any cost advantage could be short-lived if IMFT fails to ramp up the technology smoothly and SanDisk/Toshiba ramps its 43nm 32Gb x3 in Q1/09 as planned.
At 172mm2, Intel-Micron's 32Gb product will be the only 32Gb monolithic MLC device capable of fitting in a TSOP package. If the ramp of IMFT's 50nm 16Gb device is any guide, we should expect to see volume in December or in early Q1/09. It's quite remarkable that Intel-Micron have managed to catch up and surpass the other NAND flash vendors on process technology in the short span of three years. IMFT achieved this milestone by skipping the 6xnm and 4xnm nodes. However, any cost advantage could be short-lived if IMFT fails to ramp up the technology smoothly and SanDisk/Toshiba ramps its 43nm 32Gb x3 in Q1/09 as planned.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Hynix Signs Another Deal
Hynix signed another deal, this time with Grandis to jointly develop spin-torque RAM. Unlike the current MRAM products marketed by Freescale, STT-RAM uses the angular momentum derived from the spin of the electrical current to alter the magnetic orientation of a free layer. By having the current directly pass through the magnetic tunnel unction, the fields required to switch a bit can be scaled down as process geometries shrink.
This is the third in a string of technology deals starting last October with Ovonyx on phase change memory and with Nanosys on nanocrystal memory. Hynix has traditionally been a technology follower, mimicking Samsung’s advances on the technology front. However, as conventional DRAM and flash memories encounter scaling challenges alternative approaches may be required. STT-RAM is one of them.
This is the third in a string of technology deals starting last October with Ovonyx on phase change memory and with Nanosys on nanocrystal memory. Hynix has traditionally been a technology follower, mimicking Samsung’s advances on the technology front. However, as conventional DRAM and flash memories encounter scaling challenges alternative approaches may be required. STT-RAM is one of them.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Numonyx Born #1
Intel and STMicroelectronics today announced the official launch of their JV, Numonyx. Numonyx combines the NOR flash assets of Intel and NAND and NOR assets of ST under one roof.
Numonyx starts out its first day as the number one NOR flash vendor, overtaking Spansion. Now, like Spansion and other NOR flash vendors, it must find a way to make money. It’s not going to be easy with the economy in bad shape and NOR flash pricing affected by falling NAND flash prices. The new company, does however, have a few things going for it.
1. By merging two similar businesses, there’s a lot of low hanging fruit and
opportunities to cut costs.
2. Numonyx will have dedicated facilities for production unlike in the past when it had to compete for resources with chipset or logic products.
3. Numonyx is 1.5 years and 2 years ahead of Spansion and Samsung on the technology roadmap.
4. At Intel and ST, flash memory was a side business. At Numonyx, flash memory is a core business.
This last point is what makes Numonyx a formidable competitor. It must succeed just to survive.
Numonyx starts out its first day as the number one NOR flash vendor, overtaking Spansion. Now, like Spansion and other NOR flash vendors, it must find a way to make money. It’s not going to be easy with the economy in bad shape and NOR flash pricing affected by falling NAND flash prices. The new company, does however, have a few things going for it.
1. By merging two similar businesses, there’s a lot of low hanging fruit and
opportunities to cut costs.
2. Numonyx will have dedicated facilities for production unlike in the past when it had to compete for resources with chipset or logic products.
3. Numonyx is 1.5 years and 2 years ahead of Spansion and Samsung on the technology roadmap.
4. At Intel and ST, flash memory was a side business. At Numonyx, flash memory is a core business.
This last point is what makes Numonyx a formidable competitor. It must succeed just to survive.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Qimonda and Macronix Join the Flash Memory Fray
On January 3, Qimonda AG and Macronix International announced they had signed an agreement to jointly development a variety of non-volatile memory technologies over a five-year period. Qimonda will contribute its 300mm wafer-based technology and non-volatile development expertise while Macronix will contribute its extensive know-how in flash memory technologies. Both partners will share development costs and contribute engineering resources and know-how. The joint development will be conducted at Qimonda’s 300mm R&D and manufacturing facility in Dresden, Germany.
Our Take
Macronix’s original Taiwan Stock Exchange filing reveals that this agreement is a “Flash Technology License and Joint Development Agreement”. This coupled with Qimonda CEO, Kin Wah Loh’s remarks concerning Qimonda’s intent to resume production of NAND flash memory chips in 2009 implies that both parties intend to participate in the NAND flash memory space.
Macronix has made some notable progress with its charge trap flash technology, BE-SONOS and it is quite possible the joint development will direct its efforts on this technology, among others. Macronix’s plan to develop 45nm BE-SONOS in 2010 does not totally square with Qimonda’s 2009 timeframe. BE-SONOS is unproven and even if both parties were able to introduce product in 2009 or 2010, they would still be one to two process generations behind the current NAND players. On the other hand, if they are successful, they could have a technology which is more scalable than the current floating gate technology.
Our Take
Macronix’s original Taiwan Stock Exchange filing reveals that this agreement is a “Flash Technology License and Joint Development Agreement”. This coupled with Qimonda CEO, Kin Wah Loh’s remarks concerning Qimonda’s intent to resume production of NAND flash memory chips in 2009 implies that both parties intend to participate in the NAND flash memory space.
Macronix has made some notable progress with its charge trap flash technology, BE-SONOS and it is quite possible the joint development will direct its efforts on this technology, among others. Macronix’s plan to develop 45nm BE-SONOS in 2010 does not totally square with Qimonda’s 2009 timeframe. BE-SONOS is unproven and even if both parties were able to introduce product in 2009 or 2010, they would still be one to two process generations behind the current NAND players. On the other hand, if they are successful, they could have a technology which is more scalable than the current floating gate technology.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
