Category: Tomorrow’s Memory Technologies

ReRAMs find a Neuromorphic Role in Owl-Inspired Object Location

Photo of Ron Neale, Renowned Phase-Change Memory ExpertIn his latest post on The Memory Guy, contributor Ron Neale reviews a novel use for ReRAM cells in which a neural processing system mimics the direction-finding mechanism of a barn owl’s ears.  This is based on research performed by CEA-Leti in France, which was recently published in the journal Nature.

The potential for the use of the unique characteristics of ReRAMs, PCM and CeRAMs as brain-gates, neuromorphic devices, and in-memory computation has long been recognised.

In a paper recently published in Nature , inspired by the auditory system of the barn owl, a team from: CEA-Leti, Continue reading “ReRAMs find a Neuromorphic Role in Owl-Inspired Object Location”

CeRAM: Some Significant New Insights

Photo of Ron Neale, Renowned Phase-Change Memory ExpertIn this post contributor Ron Neale takes a very deep look into a new paper published by Symetrix,  Cerfe Labs  and university researchers which provides fresh insights to the inner workings of CeRAM (Correlated electron RAM), an innovative class of non-volatile memory, where carbon doping of nickel oxide NiO leads to a new type of electronics based electron interaction.  With the recently-disclosed material as background, he then adopts the position of Devil’s Advocate to explore alternative views of the memory switching mechanism and to test the proposition that CeRAM is not simply another kind of ReRAM.

A new and recently published paper in APL Materials [1] by a team from the University of Colorado, Symetrix Corporation, Cerfe Labs, The Katholieke University Belgium, Federal University of Rio de Janerio Brazil, and the University of Colorado and more recently [2] have provided us with some important Continue reading “CeRAM: Some Significant New Insights”

More New “Brief” White Papers Published This Week

Five briefs on top of each otherAs we have every week since January, this week Objective Analysis published another handful of our white papers, which we call “Objective Analysis Briefs”.

This week’s set covers a very diverse range, from the dissolution of a joint venture, through semiconductor cycles and business strategy, to Continue reading “More New “Brief” White Papers Published This Week”

New Briefs Cover Diverse Subjects

Five briefs on top of each otherWith this week’s release of five more new Briefs, Objective Analysis is now a little more than halfway through the current wave of releases.  If you look through the Briefs listed on the Objective Analysis website you’ll find that they cover a diverse range of important semiconductor issues.

This week’s lineup covers the end of Continue reading “New Briefs Cover Diverse Subjects”

Samsung’s Aquabolt-XL Processor-In-Memory (Part 2)

Sketch of a sledgehammer driving a wedge into a logSamsung has been strongly promoting its “Aquabolt-XL” Processor-In-Memory (PIM) devices for the past year.  In this second post of a two-part series The Memory Guy will present other companies’ similar PIM devices, and will discuss the PIM approach’s outlook for commercial success.

Part 1 of this series explains the concept of Processing in Memory (PIM), details Samsung’s Aquabolt-XL design, and shares some performance data.  It can be found HERE.

Samsung’s Not the First PIM Maker

This is not at all the first Continue reading “Samsung’s Aquabolt-XL Processor-In-Memory (Part 2)”

Samsung’s Aquabolt-XL Processor-In-Memory (Part 1)

Sketch of a sledgehammer driving a wedge into a logFor the past year, since ISSCC in February 2021, Samsung has been strongly promoting its “Aquabolt-XL” Processor-In-Memory (PIM) devices.  In this two-part post The Memory Guy will explain the Aquabolt-XL architecture, its performance, other companies’ similar devices, and discuss the PIM approach’s outlook for commercial success.

Processing in memory is not a Continue reading “Samsung’s Aquabolt-XL Processor-In-Memory (Part 1)”

Introducing New Objective Analysis Briefs

Five briefs on top of each otherAlthough Objective Analysis has published its “Brief” format white papers for some time, this line has never received the focus that it deserves.  To remedy that, we are taking the most interesting and timeless of the Insights that we have published on membership website Smartkarma and providing them to our friends for a reasonable price.

The Brief is a very short report format used to make a succinct Continue reading “Introducing New Objective Analysis Briefs”

Did Samsung Just Endorse YMTC’s Xtacking?

Closeup of Samsung graphic, showing illustration of wafer-bonded NANDDuring his December 15 IEDM keynote speech, Samsung Electronics Chairman Kinam Kim really surprised me.  He spoke favorably of the approach that YMTC is using to produce 3D NAND flash.

This approach, which YMTC named “Xtacking,” involves the use of two separate wafers to manufacture a 3D NAND chip.  The brief way to describe it is to say that Continue reading “Did Samsung Just Endorse YMTC’s Xtacking?”

What Exactly IS “Storage Class Memory”?

Single-quadrant chart with Bandwidth runing horizontally and cost vertically. Shows where HDD, DRAM, and NAND flash fit, and has an undefined Storage Class Memory block in the center.If you ask any two people in the computing industry to define the term “Storage Class Memory” you’re likely to get three or more answers.  That’s because the term isn’t well defined anywhere.

Some people use it for emerging memory technologies like MRAM, ReRAM, FRAM, and PCM/XPoint.  Others include NAND flash, even in the form of Continue reading “What Exactly IS “Storage Class Memory”?”

Video: The Inner Workings of SiO ReRAM

A cartoon of the atoms in a memory cell for an oxygen vacancy resistive RAMThis post shares a new and entertaining animation by Charlotte Streeter that offers one interpretation of the inner workings of one type of SiO-based nonvolatile memory like those described in Ron Neale’s most recent post on The Memory Guy.

The video links the observed electrical characteristics to the structural Continue reading “Video: The Inner Workings of SiO ReRAM”