Weebit Nano Limited, a leading developer and licensor of advanced memory technologies for the global semiconductor industry, and tier-1 semiconductor foundry DB HiTek have taped-out (released to manufacturing) a demonstration chip integrating Weebit's embedded Resistive Random-Access Memory (ReRAM or RRAM) module in DB HiTek's 130 nm Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process. The highly integrated demo chips will be used for testing and qualification ahead of customer production, while demonstrating the performance and robustness of Weebit's technology.

This important milestone in the collaboration between Weebit and DB HiTek (previously announced on 19 October 2023) was completed on-schedule as part of the technology transfer process. The companies are working to make Weebit ReRAM available to DB HiTek customers for integration in their systems on chips (SoCs) as embedded non-volatile memory (NVM), and aim to have the technology qualified and ready for production in the second quarter of the 2025 calendar year. Weebit ReRAM is available now to select DB HiTek customers for design prototyping ahead of production.

DIALOG SEMICONDUCTOR, a leading provider of battery and power management, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth low energy (BLE) and Industrial edge computing solutions and GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF ), the world's leading specialty foundry, today announced that they have entered into an agreement in which Dialog licenses its Conductive Bridging RAM (CBRAM) technology to GLOBALFOUNDRIES. The resistive ram (ReRAM)-based technology was pioneered by Adesto Technologies which was recently acquired by Dialog Semiconductor in 2020. GLOBALFOUNDRIES will first offer Dialog's CBRAM as an embedded, non-volatile memory (NVM) option on its 22FDX platform, with the plan to extend to other platforms.

Dialog's proprietary and production proven CBRAM technology is a low power NVM solution designed to enable a range of applications from IoT and 5G connectivity to artificial intelligence (AI). Low power consumption, high read/write speeds, reduced manufacturing costs and tolerance for harsh environments make CBRAM particularly suitable for consumer, medical, and select industrial and automotive applications. Furthermore, CBRAM technology enables cost-effective embedded NVM for advanced technology nodes required for products in these markets.

Looking to bridge the gap between current SSDs and resistive memory technologies for the consumers that can actually afford it, Mobiveil and Crossbar have recently announced that they are working in conjunction to bring Crossbar's ReRAM technology to an SSD form-factor. ReRAM is a new type of non-volatile memory (meaning it stores data even when it's not being powered). It's based on a simple three-layer structure of top electrode, switching medium and bottom electrode, where the resistance switching mechanism is based on the formation of a filament in the switching material when a voltage is applied between the two electrodes. Crossbar in particular (this type of resistive memory is also being pursued by other companies, such as HP) says their ReRAM cell is very stable, capable of withstanding temperature swings from -40°C to 125°C, 1M+ write cycles, and managing data retention of 10 years at 85°C. As an upside, it is 3D scalable, and its production can be achieved in standard CMOS manufacturing fabs.

This isn't the next evolution on SSD's - at least, not for the general consumer. ReRAM production and implementation costs will be leagues ahead of what current 3D NAND memory production entails, thus making this a niche product that is there for the customers that absolutely require the fastest throughput possible across a standard interface. In this case, NVMe is the choice - particularly, Mobiveil's NVMe, PCIe and DDR3/4 controllers can easily be adapted to accommodate the Crossbar ReRAM architecture, which is capable of six-million 512B IOPS below 10us latency.

Elpida Memory, Inc. ("Elpida", TOKYO: 6665 JP), the world's third largest Dynamic Random Access Memory ("DRAM") manufacturer, today announced the development of its first-ever high-speed non-volatile resistance memory (ReRAM) prototype. As the ReRAM prototype was made using a 50-nanometer (nm[1]) process technology it has a memory cell array operation of 64 megabits[2], one of the highest densities possible for ReRAM. The prototype was jointly developed with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), a Japanese-funded public institution. Further work on ReRAM development is being conducted with Sharp Corporation ("Sharp", TOKYO: 6753 JP), the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST, another Japanese public institution) and the University of Tokyo.

ReRAM (Resistance Random Access Memory) is next-generation semiconductor memory technology that uses material which changes resistance in response to changes in the electric voltage. This new type of non-volatile memory can store data even when the power supply is turned off. Its most attractive feature is that it can read/write data at high speeds using little voltage. While dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) is superior to existing non-volatile memory with respect to read/write speeds and endurance, DRAM quickly loses data when the power supply is removed. NAND flash memory, a leading example of nonvolatile memory, retains data even when the power is removed but has performance measures that are inferior to DRAM.

HP today announced that it has entered into a joint development agreement with Hynix Semiconductor Inc., a world-leading memory supplier, to bring memristor, a new circuit element first intentionally demonstrated in HP Labs, to market in future memory products. Memristors require less energy to operate, are faster than present solid-state storage technologies and can retain information even when power is off. The memristor, short for "memory resistor," was postulated to be the fourth basic circuit element by Prof. Leon Chua of the University of California at Berkeley in 1971 and first intentionally reduced to practice by researchers in HP Labs, the company's central research arm, in 2006.

Earlier this year, HP announced the discovery that the memristor also can perform logic, showing that memristor-based devices could change the standard paradigm of computing by enabling computation to one day be performed in chips where data is stored, rather than on a specialized central processing unit.

Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. is in development of a new type of resistive RAM (ReRAM), a type of non-volatile memory, which combines low power consumption with limited fluctuation of resistance value. By changing the structure of the ReRAM by adding titanium (Ti) to nickel oxide (NiO), and by limiting the current flow from the transistor, Fujitsu Labs has successfully reduced the current needed to erase memory to 100 micro-amperes or less. Furthermore, even in high-speed erasure operations requiring only 5 nanoseconds, fluctuation of resistance value which affects the device's quality has been reduced to one-tenth (1/10th) that of conventional ReRAMs. Fujitsu Labs views the new ReRAM as an alternative to flash memory that combines high speed and low power consumption, in a low-cost embedded memory.