GigaDevice, a provider of non-volatile memories, MCUs and sensors announced an RRAM patent licensing agreement with Rambus and Reliance Memory (which is a Joint Venture between GigaDevice and Rambus established in 2018).
Under these agreements, GigaDevice obtained licenses for more than 180 RRAM technology-related patents and applications from Rambus and Reliance Memory.
Singapore's A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics (IME) announced that it has strengthened its collaboration with Picosun Group in the area of next-generation memories.
Picosun provided ALD solutions and consultancy to IME to assist in the development work on FeRAM and ReRAM technologies.Picosun's ALD equipment supports 12" wafer processing.
Israel-based SiOx RRAM developer Weebit Nano announced that it has signed a letter-of-intent with China-based SiEn QingDao Integrated Circuits to jointly investigate ways in which Weebitâs
technology can be used in SiEnâs products.
SiEn is a Communal Integrated Device Manufacturer (CIDM) company, which aggregates companies with similar target markets, technologies, production lines and customers to share common manufacturing technology production goals. Weebit hopes that its RRAM technology will
enhance SiEnâs competitive position by adding significant non-volatile memory capability to its future products.
Israel-based RRAM developer Weebit Nano Announced that it is launching a new program to address the needs of the discrete memory market
Weebit says it is accelerating its entry into the discrete, stand-alone, memory chip market. Weebit says that a key element required for discrete memory chips is the selector, which helps isolate the memory cells so that only the specific cells which should be modified actually are, and all the other cells are disconnected and not impacted.
In August 2019 Israel-based SiOx RRAM developer Weebit Nano announced that it has signed a letter of intent with XTX Technology to investigating ways in which XTX can use Weebitâs technology in its products. Today Weebit announced that XTX verified the technical parameters of Weebit's ReRAM technology and reproduced the results previously achieved with Leti.
Weebit says that this successful external testing with XTX was achieved four months ahead of schedule. The two companies are now investigating ways to integrate Weebit's ReRAM memroy technology into XTX Products.
Sony announced that it is accelerating its RRAM ("Cross Point ReRAM") development with an aim to commercialize it in 2020. Sony says that its ReRAM will be cheaper than NAND, and also faster, consumer less power and heat. Sony's efforts at this stage are to develop a smart low-power ReRAM controller, reduce the power consumption and manage the thermal issues.
As can be seen in the slide above (click to enlarge), Sony says its 128GB ReRAM drives will feature 25.6 GB/s read times, 9.6 GB/s write times and will support PCIe gen5 x 5. The power consumption target is 14.6W. The larger 16-chip 256GB drives will be faster at 51.2 GB/s read and 19.2 GB/s write. The power consumption will be 27.2W.
Israel-based RRAM developer Weebit Nano Announced that it secured $3.1 million in a combined placement and entitlement offer. The company has also announced that it is progressing in its project to develop a customized ReRAM memory module for its South Korean customer - and aims to to deliver the module in mid-2020.
Weebit says that it aims to transfer its facilities to production capacity by the end of 2020.
Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) and GlobalFoundries announced a partnership to jointly research next-generation RRAM memories. The two partners will invest $88 million USD with an aim to demonstrate RRAM memory devices produced on 12-inch wafers.
NTU and GF-Singapore are already collaborating on spintronics - the study of electron spin and its applications, including MRAM memory (NTU and GF are founding members of the Singapore Spintronics Consortium. In this new ReRAM project, 16 researchers will work together to research areas such as circuit design for next-generation smart devices and chip packaging for advanced IoT applications.
Strategic Elements announced that it is developing a transparent memory demonstrator, in collaboration with UNSW, CSIRO and the VTT Group. The demonstrator will include a 10.4" transparent display and SER's own printable transparent Nanocube Memory Ink (RRAM memory).
The demonstrator is transparent until touched, which then waits for a user to press the authentication code. This demo will showcase the possibility of print functional memory on transparent glass. The demonstrator is due in Q4 2019 (the main delay, according to SER, is the sourcing of the transparent display).
RRAM developer Crossbar announced a new SPI-based AI accelerator chip, which it calls XPU. The chip targets a specific lookup phase during AI calculations and contains an RRAM memory device and a programmable coparator.
RRAM's low power and non-volatility nature fits this application and according to crossbar can achieve a 30X speed improvement over an ARM+DDR4 combination, while drawing 500X less power (the advantages of the XPU chip are increased with object length).