A new multi-bit 'spin' for MRAM storage

A France-US research team's new spin on MRAM technology led to a multi-bit storage paradigm that may rival flash memory storage

2014-07-22

(Press-News.org) WASHINGTON D.C., June 22, 2014 -- Interest in magnetic random access memory (MRAM) is escalating, thanks to demand for fast, low-cost, nonvolatile, low-consumption, secure memory devices. MRAM, which relies on manipulating the magnetization of materials for data storage rather than electronic charges, boasts all of these advantages as an emerging technology, but so far it hasn't been able to match flash memory in terms of storage density.

In the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing, a France-U.S. research team reports an intriguing new multi-bit MRAM storage paradigm with the potential to rival flash memory.

Increasing the density of memory devices is highly desirable and can be accomplished via a variety of methods. One way is by reducing the patterning dimensions, which leads to an increased number of memory cells per unit surface. Another approach involves increasing the storage capacity of each individual cell -- aka "multi-bit storage."

"Multi-bit storage is typically achieved in MRAM technology by measuring the multiple voltage levels corresponding to various magnetic configurations," explained Quentin Stainer, lead author of the paper and a Ph.D. student at SPINTEC/CEA, a research institute for electronics and information technologies located in Grenoble, France, and also affiliated with Crocus Technology, a France- and U.S.-based firm that develops magnetically enhanced semiconductor technologies.

At the heart of the team's work is Crocus Technology's proprietary Magnetic Logic Unit (MLU) technology, which enables the researchers to remotely control a sensor to probe these configurations. "By identifying key features of the electrical responses we obtain, typically known as 'extrema points,' we can infer the stored information," Stainer said.

The highlight of their work was the "unambiguous demonstration of the feasibility of our method, with as much as 3 bits per unit cells, and recently up to 4 bits, obtained on 110-nanometer-wide devices," he noted.

It's also worth noting that the team says their storage paradigm should be able to provide an increased robustness and tolerance to process variability, which will make it easier to produce devices based on this technology for industrial applications.

"Our work will enable the development of products for a wide range of applications including, but not limited to, secure data storage for connected devices -- such as smart card, content-addressable memory for Internet routers, as well as high-performance, high-density, and high-temperature memory," Stainer said.

The team's next step? Developing a fully functional multi-bit MLU memory product to further demonstrate the industrial viability of their storage paradigm. "New memory paradigms derived from this work are also under development -- with potential multi-bit capacities of up to 8 bits per single cell," he added.

INFORMATION: The article, "Self-referenced Multi-bit Thermally Assisted Magnetic Random Access Memories," is authored by Q. Stainer, L. Lombard, K. Mackay, D. Lee, S. Bandiera, C. Portemong, C. Creuzet, R.C. Sousa, and B. Dieny. It will be published in the journal Applied Physics Letters on Tuesday, July 22, 2014. After that date, it may be accessed at: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/apl/105/3/10.1063/1.4885352

This work was supported by a contract (N66001-13-C-2003) from the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence's IARPA (Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity) group.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL Applied Physics Letters features concise, rapid reports on significant new findings in applied physics. The journal covers new experimental and theoretical research on applications of physics phenomena related to all branches of science, engineering, and modern technology. See: http://apl.aip.org

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Fly-inspired sound detector

2014-07-22

WASHINGTON D.C., June 22, 2014 – Even within a phylum so full of mean little creatures, the yellow-colored Ormia ochracea fly is distinguished among other arthropods for its cruelty -- at least to crickets. Native to the southeastern U.S. states and Central America, the fly is a most predatory sort of parasite. It swoops onto the back of a singing male cricket, deposits a smear of larvae, and leaves its wicked brood to invade, kill and consume the cricket from inside out. None of this would be possible without the fly's ability to find a cricket -- the cornerstone of ...

Law of physics governs airplane evolution

2014-07-22

DURHAM, N.C. -- Researchers believe they now know why the supersonic trans-Atlantic Concorde aircraft went the way of the dodo -- it hit an evolutionary cul-de-sac. In a new study, Adrian Bejan, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke University, shows that a law of physics he penned more than two decades ago helps explain the evolution of passenger airplanes from the small, propeller-driven DC-3s of yore to today's behemoth Boeing 787s. The analysis also provides insights into how aerospace companies can develop successful future designs. The ...

The evolution of airplanes

2014-07-22

WASHINGTON D.C. July 22, 2014 -- One of the traditional arguments against Darwinian evolution has been that no one can confirm the process exists because it occurs on a time scale immensely greater than a human lifetime. Adrian Bejan, the J. A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University, has disagreed with that notion ever since 1996 when he discovered the Constructal Law, a fundamental principle of physics that underlies the evolution of flow systems as they change in design over time. In a new paper in the Journal of Applied Physics, ...

Bats use polarized light to navigate

2014-07-22

Scientists have discovered that greater mouse-eared bats use polarisation patterns in the sky to navigate – the first mammal that's known to do this. The bats use the way the Sun's light is scattered in the atmosphere at sunset to calibrate their internal magnetic compass, which helps them to fly in the right direction, a study published in Nature Communications has shown. Despite this breakthrough, researchers have no idea how they manage to detect polarised light. 'We know that other animals use polarisation patterns in the sky, and we have at least some idea ...

'Comb on a chip' powers new NIST/Caltech atomic clock design

2014-07-22

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have demonstrated a new design for an atomic clock that is based on a chip-scale frequency comb, or a microcomb. The microcomb clock, featured on the cover of the inaugural issue of the new journal Optica,* is the first demonstration of all-optical control of the microcomb, and its accurate conversion of optical frequencies to lower microwave frequencies. (Optical frequencies are too high to count;microwave frequencies can be counted with electronics.) The ...

Mount Sinai scientists and international team shed new light on schizophrenia

2014-07-22

NEW YORK, NY -- As part of a multinational, collaborative effort, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have helped identify over 100 locations in the human genome associated with the risk of developing schizophrenia, in the largest genomic study published on any psychiatric disorder to date, conducted with 80,000 people. The findings, published online in Nature, point to biological mechanisms and pathways that may underlie schizophrenia, and could lead to new approaches to treating the disorder, which has seen little innovation in drug development ...

P90X? Why consumers choose high-effort products

2014-07-22

Stuck in traffic? On hold for what seems like an eternity? Consumers often face situations that undermine their feelings of control. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, when a person's sense of control is threatened, they are more likely to seek out products that require hard work. "Intuitively, it would seem that feeling a loss of control might cause consumers to seek out a product that does NOT require them to exert very much effort. But we find that consumers actually look to products that require hard work to restore their belief that they ...

Fill 'er up: NIST develops prototype meter test for hydrogen refueling stations

2014-07-22

To support the fair sale of gaseous hydrogen as a vehicle fuel, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a prototype field test standard to test the accuracy of hydrogen fuel dispensers. Once the standard is field tested, it will serve as a model for constructing similar devices for state weights and measures inspectors to use. Three automakers plan to begin selling hydrogen-fueled vehicles to consumers in 2015. The state of California has opened nine refueling stations and is funding the construction of an additional 28 ...

Overdoing it: Multiple perspectives confuse consumers

2014-07-22

Television commercials for luxury vehicles pack a lot in their 30-second running times: the camera offers quick shots of the soft leather upholstery, the shiny colors, the state-of-the-art entertainment system, and the four-wheel drive. But these multiple angles and shifting perspectives have a negative impact on consumer evaluation of products, according to a new study from a Tel Aviv University researcher. TAU's Dr. Yael Steinhart and her collaborators Yuwei Jiang of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Rashmi Adaval of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and ...

Why do challenging tasks make consumers believe drugs wear off faster?

2014-07-22

Imagine that you have a cup of coffee and sit down to read People magazine. How long do you think the energy boost will last before you reach for another cup? Would you need more caffeine if you tried to read War and Peace? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research finds that consumers wrongly believe that pharmacological products such as coffee and aspirin lose their effectiveness when they engage in more strenuous activities. "People make assumptions about how long it takes for products to wear off. For example, they know that cars burn gasoline more quickly ...

NEW STUDY: Across eight Amazon countries, forests on Indigenous lands reduce spread of 27 diseases – From respiratory ailments to illnesses spread by insects, animals

A new multi-bit 'spin' for MRAM storage

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: