Chinese foundry SMIC has signed a strategic partnership with resistive RAM developer Crossbar that will focus on the development and production of RRAM technology.
Under the deal, the partners will provide customers with RRAM blocks based on SMIC’s 40nm CMOS process, a move that will enable the technology to be integrated into into MCUs and SoCs for a range of applications.
“Crossbar continues to execute on schedule and is now entering the licensing phase,” said George Minassian, Crossbar’s CEO and cofounder. “Designers of highly integrated MCUs and SoCs need non volatile memory technologies that are easy to integrate into their products and which can be manufactured using standard CMOS logic processes. Crossbar RRAM technology and SMIC manufacturing expertise are creating a new era of memory architectures with tighter security, lower power consumption while providing more capacity and fast access time.”
Crossbar RRAM cells are integrated in standard CMOS processes between two metal lines of standard CMOS wafers. This is said to result in highly integrated solutions, with non volatile memory, processing cores, analogue and RF on one die.
Dr Tzu-Yin Chiu, SMIC’s CEO, noted: “We’re delighted to have Crossbar as a new partner in our stable and reliable 40nm technology platform.”
Author
Graham Pitcher
Source: www.newelectronics.co.uk