Infineon Technologies and IBM's recently announced 16Mbit MRAM, is claimed to have the world's highest density. It utilizes a 1-Transistor 1-Magnetic Tunnel Junction (1T1MTJ) cell, and features an SRAM-like interface.
Operating in access and cycle times of 30 to 40ns, the performance of this 16Mbit MRAM is said to be more advanced than most memory devices in many aspects. "The time required to write the first bit of information into an MRAM chip is about one million times faster than the time required for a Flash memory chip. The time required to read information is about three times faster than NOR flash chip and 1000 faster than in a NAND flash chip," says Dr. Wilhelm Beinvogl, the CTO of Infineon's Memory Products Business Group.
However, MRAM has still many daunting issues to be resolved. One of them is maintaining regular magnetic switching in a magnetic field, essential for increasing density and decreasing chip size for successful commercialization. While it is unclear when MRAM will be commercialized, this achievement in MRAM technology is a significant step forward for memory suppliers.
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www.infineon.com
