Applied Materials, Inc. today unveiled innovative, high-volume
manufacturing solutions aimed at accelerating industry adoption of
new memory technologies targeting the Internet of Things (IoT) and
cloud computing.
Today’s high-volume memory technologies including DRAM, SRAM and
flash were invented decades ago and have become ubiquitous in
digital devices and systems. New memories – notably MRAM, ReRAM and
PCRAM – promise unique benefits, but they are based on new
materials that have been too challenging for high-volume
manufacturing. Today, Applied Materials is introducing new
manufacturing systems that allow novel materials – the key to these
new memories – to be deposited with atomic-level precision. The
company is delivering the most advanced systems it has ever
developed to enable these promising new memories to be reliably
produced at an industrial scale.
“The new Endura® platforms we are introducing today are the most
sophisticated chip-making systems our company has ever created,”
said Dr. Prabu Raja, senior vice president and general manager of
Applied’s Semiconductor Products Group. “Our broad portfolio gives
us the unique ability to integrate multiple materials engineering
technologies along with on-board metrology to create new films and
structures that were not possible until now. These integrated
platforms illustrate the critical role that new materials and 3D
architectures can play in giving the computing industry entirely
new ways to improve performance, power and cost.”
“IBM has been spearheading R&D of new memories for many
years, and we see the need for these technologies increasing as the
AI era demands improvements in chip performance and efficiency,”
said Mukesh Khare, vice president, Semiconductors, AI Hardware and
Systems, IBM Research. “New materials and device types can play an
important role in enabling high-performance, low-power embedded
memory for IoT, Cloud and AI products. Applied Materials’
high-volume manufacturing solutions can help accelerate the
availability of these new memories across the industry.”
“Improving the efficiency of data centers is a key priority for
cloud service provider and enterprise customers,” said Sung Gon Jin
of SK hynix, head of the Advanced Technology Thin Film Group. “In
addition to providing continued innovations in DRAM and NAND, SK
hynix is pioneering the development of next-generation memories
that can help boost performance and reduce power consumption. We
value the work of Applied Materials in collaborating with us to
speed the development of new materials and high-volume production
techniques for promising emerging memories.”
“As advancements in AI, machine learning and IoT drive workloads
to become increasingly data-intensive and complex, new innovations
in memory technology will be needed to effectively process them,”
said Richard New, vice president of research, Western Digital.
“Applied Materials is providing important technology to help
accelerate the availability of promising emerging memories such as
MRAM, ReRAM and PCRAM.”
MRAM for the IoT
The computer industry is building the Internet of Things whereby
sensors, computing and communications are incorporated into tens of
billions of devices that will monitor their environments, make
decisions and send critical information to cloud data centers. MRAM
(magnetic random access memory) is a leading candidate to be the
memory of choice for storing IoT device software and AI
algorithms.
MRAM incorporates delicate magnetic materials commonly found in
hard disk drives. MRAM is inherently fast and also nonvolatile,
allowing software and data to be retained even when power is
removed. Due to its fast performance and high endurance, MRAM may
eventually be used as an alternative to SRAM in level 3 cache
memory. MRAM can be incorporated into the back-end interconnect
layers of IoT chip designs, thereby enabling smaller die sizes and
lower costs.
Applied’s new Endura® Clover™ MRAM PVD platform is made up of
nine unique wafer processing chambers all integrated in pristine,
high-vacuum conditions. It is the industry’s first 300-millimeter
MRAM system for high-volume manufacturing capable of individually
depositing up to five different materials per chamber. MRAM
memories require precise deposition of at least 30 different layers
of material, some of which are 500,000 times thinner than a human
hair. Process variations of just a fraction of the diameter of an
atom can greatly affect device performance and reliability. The
Clover MRAM PVD platform includes on-board metrology that measures
and monitors thickness of the MRAM layers with sub-angstrom
sensitivity as they are created, to ensure atomic-level uniformity
without risking exposure to the outside environment.
“As an extremely fast, high-endurance nonvolatile memory, MRAM
is poised to displace embedded flash and level 3 cache SRAM in both
IoT and AI applications,” said Tom Sparkman, CEO of Spin
Memory. “The availability of a high-volume manufacturing
system from Applied Materials is a huge boost to the ecosystem, and
we are thrilled to be working with Applied to deliver MRAM
solutions and accelerate its adoption.”
ReRAM and PCRAM in the Cloud
As data generation grows exponentially, cloud data centers
require order-of-magnitude improvements in the speed and power
consumption of the data pathways linking servers and storage
systems. ReRAM (resistive RAM) and PCRAM (phase change RAM) are
fast, nonvolatile, low-power, high-density memories that can be
used as “storage class memory” to fill the widening
price-performance gap between server DRAM and storage.
ReRAM is made using new materials that act like a fuse, allowing
filaments to be selectively formed within the billions of storage
cells to represent data. In contrast, PCRAM incorporates the phase
change material found in DVD disks, and bits are programmed by
changing the state of the material from amorphous to crystalline.
Similar to 3D NAND memories, ReRAM and PCRAM are arranged in 3D
structures, and memory makers can steadily reduce the cost of
storage by adding more layers with each product generation. ReRAM
and PCRAM also offer the possibility of intermediate stages of
programming and resistivity to allow multiple bits of data to be
stored in each memory cell.
ReRAM and PCRAM both promise significantly lower cost than DRAM
along with substantially faster read performance than NAND and hard
disk drives. ReRAM is also a leading candidate for future in-memory
computing architectures whereby computing elements are integrated
into the memory arrays to help overcome the data movement
bottleneck associated with AI computing.
Applied’s Endura® Impulse™ PVD platform for PCRAM and ReRAM
includes up to nine process chambers integrated under vacuum along
with on-board metrology to allow the precise deposition and control
of the multi-component materials used in these emerging
memories.
“Uniform deposition of the new materials used in ReRAM memories
is critical to achieving the highest possible device performance,
reliability and endurance,” said George Minassian, CEO and
co-founder of Crossbar, Inc. “We specify the Applied Materials
Endura Impulse PVD system with on-board metrology in our ReRAM
technology engagements with memory and logic customers because it
enables a breakthrough in these critical metrics.”
About Applied Materials Applied Materials,
Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) is the leader in materials engineering
solutions used to produce virtually every new chip and advanced
display in the world. Our expertise in modifying materials at
atomic levels and on an industrial scale enables customers to
transform possibilities into reality. At Applied Materials,
our innovations make possible the technology shaping the future.
Learn more at www.appliedmaterials.com.
Contact:Ricky Gradwohl (editorial/media)
408.235.4676Michael Sullivan (financial community) 408.986.7977
Two photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9d1334ed-cedd-4ed6-91a9-32bd21a2794f
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7d80570c-7c11-4fe0-aba8-656844431dd7
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024