TufFRAM®
Tezzaron’s
TufFRAM technology addresses the need for better speed, density, and
endurance in affordable non-volatile memory.
Flash memory currently dominates the non-volatile market.
However, Flash memory has very slow write cycles and limited endurance
(frequent writing degrades the cells). Today’s
non-volatile FRAM technology boasts much faster write cycles and somewhat better
endurance, but oxygen leaching eventually degrades the memory cell crystals
during both read and write operations.
TufFRAM,
Tezzaron’s version of FRAM, uses a proprietary ferroelectric material that
solves the endurance problem by changing the chemistry involved.
TufFRAM’s unique non-metallic anodes discourage oxygen from leaching
out of the crystals. Another extremely valuable property of this material is its
unusually low processing temperature (450°C), which allows smaller features and
higher densities than other varieties of FRAM.
The
first TufFRAM product will be a monolithic (non-stacked) memory chip,
socket-compatible with DRAM – durable, non-volatile, with DRAM-like density
and better-than-DRAM speeds.
Developing TufFRAM®
Tezzaron
has already done significant development work on TufFRAM, in association with
Radiant Technologies, Inc., the University of Maryland, and other parties.
The underlying science is now well proven.
Future Generations of TufFRAM®
Tezzaron
plans to incorporate TufFRAM layers into stacked memory chips (using FaStack®)
for greater density and wider usage.
It may even be possible to implement 3T-iRAM™,
with its current-sensing technology and multi-bit cells, within stacked TufFRAM.
This combination of technologies would produce fast, dense, non-volatile chips
with extraordinary reliability and endurance.
