Mass production of revolutionary computer memory moves closer with ULTRARAM[TM] on silicon wafers for the first time

Date:
January 6, 2022
Source:
Lancaster University
Summary:
A pioneering type of patented computer memory known as ULTRARAM[TM]
has been demonstrated on silicon wafers in what is a major
step towards its large-scale manufacture. ULTRARAM[TM] is novel
type of memory with extraordinary properties. It combines the
non-volatility of a data storage memory, like flash, with the
speed, energy-efficiency and endurance of a working memory, like
DRAM. To do this it utilizes the unique properties of compound
semiconductors, commonly used in photonic devices such as LEDS,
laser diodes and infrared detectors, but not in digital electronics,
which is the preserve of silicon.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A pioneering type of patented computer memory known as ULTRARAM[TM]
has been demonstrated on silicon wafers in what is a major step towards
its large-scale manufacture.


========================================================================== ULTRARAM[TM] is a novel type of memory with extraordinary properties. It combines the non-volatility of a data storage memory, like flash,
with the speed, energy-efficiency and endurance of a working memory,
like DRAM. To do this it utilises the unique properties of compound semiconductors, commonly used in photonic devices such as LEDS, laser
diodes and infrared detectors, but not in digital electronics, which is
the preserve of silicon.

Initially patented in the US, further patents on the technology are
currently being progressed in key technology markets around the world.

Now, in a collaboration between the Physics and Engineering Departments
at Lancaster University and the Department of Physics at Warwick,
ULTRARAM[TM] has been implemented on silicon wafers for the very first
time.

Professor Manus Hayne of the Department of Physics at Lancaster,
who leads the work said, "ULTRARAM[TM] on silicon is a huge advance
for our research, overcoming very significant materials challenges
of large crystalline lattice mismatch, the change from elemental
to compound semiconductor and differences in thermal contraction."
Digital electronics, which is the core of all gadgetry from smart watches
and smart phones through to personal computers and datacentres, uses
processor and memory chips made from the semiconductor element silicon.

Due to the maturity of the silicon chip-making industry and the
multi-billion dollar cost of building chip factories, implementation
of any digital electronic technology on silicon wafers is essential for
its commercialisation.

Remarkably, the ULTRARAM[TM] on silicon devices actually outperform
previous incarnations of the technology on GaAs compound semiconductor
wafers, demonstrating (extrapolated) data storage times of at least 1000
years, fast switching speed (for device size) and program-erase cycling endurance of at least 10 million, which is one hundred to one thousand
times better than flash.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Lancaster_University. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Peter D. Hodgson, Dominic Lane, Peter J. Carrington, Evangelia
Delli,
Richard Beanland, Manus Hayne. ULTRARAM: A Low‐Energy,
High‐Endurance, Compound‐Semiconductor Memory on
Silicon.

Advanced Electronic Materials, 2022; 2101103 DOI:
10.1002/aelm.202101103 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220106143222.htm

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