Transcript Introduction to Using MRAM in Control Systems

Introduction to MRAM and its Applications
TM
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
1
Industry First - Freescale’s 4Mb MRAM
General Specification








MR2A16A






Non-volatile memory with unlimited read-write
endurance
Non-destructive read/write
Symmetrical 35ns Read/Write access time
Bitwise erasable (28 Mb/s)
Data Retention >10 Years
256Kx16bit organization
3.3V single power supply
Fast SRAM compatible pinout (center power and
ground)
Commercial Temperature (0-70°C)
RoHS Compliant TSOP type-II package
Flexible Data Bus (8/16-bit access)
LVI prevents writes on power loss
I/O TTL compatible
Fully static operation
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
2
MRAM Advantages
Nonvolatile
Data Retention - > 10 years
Stable & Reliable - Data stored by polarization not charge
Fast
Unlimited
Cycles
Viable
Symmetrical Read/Write
Byte writeable – bit level granularity
35ns for 4Mb at 0.18um technology node
Unlimited Endurance -  1016
Non-destructive read – no wearout, no leakage, no soft errors
• Integrated with Existing CMOS Baseline
• Compatible with Embedded Designs
• Highly Reliable
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
3
Reliability Leadership
MRAM Endurance Cycling
Passing %
100%
Flash Capability
0%
1
100
10000
1000000
1E+08
1E+10
1E+12
1E+14
Number of Read/Write Cycles
Endurance cycling has reached 58 trillion cycles with no change in
critical parameters.
Data from >2800 bits from 900 devices
8 orders of magnitude more cycles than current Flash technology
No known failure modes are seen or expected.
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
4
MRAM Product Roadmap
16Mb
Available Now
Coming Soon
Proposed
8/16M,35Ns
119PBGA
-40-105C
8Mb
4Mb
MR2A16A
4Mb,35nS
44-pin TSOP
0-70C
MR2A16A
4Mb,35nS
44-pin TSOP
-40-105C
July 2007
1Mb,35nS
48-pin TSSOP
0-70C
1Mb
1/4Mb
0-70C
BGA
1Mb
-40-105C
512Kb/256Kb
2006
2007
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
2008+
TM
5
MRAM Basics
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
6
How MRAM Works
 Information is stored as magnetic polarization, not charge
 The state of the bit is detected as a change in resistance
S
N
S
N
Magnetic layer 1 (free layer)
Tunnel barrier
N
S
S
N
Magnetic layer 2 (fixed layer)
Magnetic vectors are parallel –
low resistance. “0”
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
Magnetic vectors are anti-parallel –
high resistance. “1”
TM
7
1 T-1 MTJ MRAM memory cell operation - read
Read Mode
ISense
To read an MRAM bit,
current is passed through
the bit and the resistance
of the bit is sensed.
Isolation
Transistor
“ON”
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
8
1 T-1 MTJ MRAM memory cell operation - write
“Write Mode”
Easy Axis Field
IEasy
Free Layer
Tunnel Barrier
Fixed Layer
Hard Axis Field
IHard
Isolation
Transistor
“OFF”
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
To write an MRAM bit, current
is passed through the
programming lines generating
magnetic fields.
The sum of the magnetic field
from both lines is needed to
program the bit.
No moving parts.
TM
9
4Mb Memory Cell
M5-BL
i
TE
Program path
for Writing
informationM3
TVia
TJ
MVia
V4
M4-DL
V3
i
BE
Sense Path for
bit cell reading
V2
M2
Thk
Oxide
Xtor
N+
Pass Xtor
V1
M1
N+
N+
Pass Xtor
N+
Group Select
N+
N+
N+
P-
Layer Name M1-3 Via1-4
M4-DL MVia
BE
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TJ
TVia
TE
M5-BL
TM
10
Freescale…….
Technology Leadership
Metal 5
MRAM
module
Metal 4
MRAM
BEOL
Via 3
Metal 3
MTJ
Via 2
CMOS
FEOL
Metal 5
Metal 2
Via 1
Metal 4
Metal 1
Contact
Bit cell
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
11
MRAM – Functional Operation
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
12
Toggle Bit Technology
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
13
Toggle MRAM Bit Cell
Bit Line
BL
Program
Program
Line
Line
2
Ferromagnetic layer
Coupling Layer
Ferromagnetic layer
Free Tri-Layer
Tunnel Barrier
Pinned Ferromagnetic
Pinning Layer
DL
Program
Program
Line
Line1
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
14
Free Layer Field Response
Conventional Free Layer
H=0

Tri-Layer Coupled Free Layer
H=0
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.

TM
15
Elements of Toggle Bit
Hard
Axis
Balanced SAF free-layer
Bit oriented 45º to lines
Unipolar currents
Overlapping pulse sequence
Pre-read / decision write
Easy
Axis
Write
Line 1
(H1)
Write
Line 2
(H2)
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
16
Toggle MRAM Switching Sequence
H2
Hard
Axis
Easy
Axis
Hard
Axis
Easy
Axis
Hard
Axis
On
I2
Easy
Axis
Hard
Axis
Easy
Axis
I1
I1
Write
Line 1
Write
Line 2
Easy Hard
Axis Axis
H1
H1
Write
Line 1
I2
H2
Write
Line 1
Write
Line 2
Write
Line 1
Write
Line 1
Write
Line 2
Write
Line 2
t2
t3
Write
Line 2
Write Line 1
Off
On
Write Line 2
Off
t0
t1
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
t4
TM
17
Competition, Applications
& Product Timeline
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
18
Initial Competitive Markets for MRAM
Competition is limited to those memory technologies that have the
same attributes of MRAM:
•
•
•
Non-volatility
High Read/Write Performance
High Read/Write Endurance
SRAM – Not non-volatile
DRAM – Not non-volatile
Flash – Low write performance, poor endurance
FeRAM – Limited performance, limited endurance
BBSRAM – Functionally compatible
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
19
MR2A16ATS35C Key Features
MRAM SRAM
DRAM
Flash
FeRam
Read Speed
Fast
Fastest
Medium
Fast
Fast
Write Speed
Fast
Fastest
Medium
Low
Medium
Med/High
High
High
Med/Low
Medium
Good
Good
Limited
Limited
Limited
Cell Density
Med/High
Low
High
Medium
Medium
Non-Volatility
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Infinite
Infinite
Infinite
Limited
Limited
Cell Leakage
Low
Low/High
High
Low
Low
Low Voltage
Yes
Yes
Limited
Limited
Limited
Medium
Low
Medium
Medium
Medium
Array Efficiency
Future Scalability
Endurance
Complexity
►Key
•
•
•
•
Features
High performance – symmetrical read and write timing
Small size and scalable for future technologies
Nonvolatile with virtually unlimited read-write endurance
Low leakage and low voltage capable
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
20
Competitive Devices
Supplier
TechnologyPart Number
Density
Speed
Freescale
MRAM
MR2A16ATS35C
4Mb
35ns
Ramtron
FRAM
FM20L08-60-TGC
1Mb
350ns
STM
BBSRAM
BBSRAM
BBSRAM
BBSRAM
M48Z512AY-70PM1
M48Z512AY-70PM1
497-2886-5-ND
497-2886-5-ND
4Mb
4Mb
4Mb
4Mb
70ns
70ns
70ns
70ns
Maxim (Dallas) BBSRAM
BBSRAM
BBSRAM
BBSRAM
DS1250AB-100+
DS1250AB-100+
DS1250AB-70+
DS1250AB-70+
4Mb
4Mb
4Mb
4Mb
100ns
100ns
70ns
70ns
SimTek
nvSRAM
nvSRAM
nvSRAM
nvSRAM
nvSRAM
STK17TA8-R35I (Industrial)
STK17TA8-RF25 (Commercial)
STK17TA8-RF35 (Commercial)
STK17TA8-RF45 (Commercial)
STK17TA8-RF45I (Industrial)
1Mb
1Mb
1Mb
1Mb
1Mb
35ns
25ns
35ns
45ns
45ns
Texas Instr
BBSRAM BQ4013Y (Commercial)
BBSRAM BQ4013YMA (Commercial)
1Mb
1Mb
70ns
120ns
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
21
MR2A16ATS35C Competitive Analysis
Supplier
TechnologyPart Number
Density Config
Speed Read Current Temperature
Freescale
MRAM
MR2A16A
4Mb 256Kbx16 35ns
55 mA
Ramtron
FRAM
FM20L08-60-TGC
1Mb
128Kbx8 350ns
STM
BBSRAM M48Z512AY-70PM1 4Mb
BBSRAM 497-2886-5-ND
4Mb
512Kx8
512Kx8
70ns
70ns
Qty
Price
0 to 70C
1000
$22.50
22 mA
-40C to 85C
small
$17.83
115 mA
115 mA
0 to 70C
0 to 70C
small
5000
$70.00
$42.00
Maxim (Dallas)BBSRAM
BBSRAM
BBSRAM
BBSRAM
DS1250AB-100+
DS1250AB-100+
DS1250AB-70+
DS1250AB-70+
4Mb
4Mb
4Mb
4Mb
512Kx8 100ns
512Kx8 100ns
512Kx8 70ns
512Kx8 70ns
85 mA
85 mA
85 mA
85 mA
-40C to 85C
-40C to 85C
-40C to 85C
-40C to 85C
100
1000
100
1000
$52.34
$48.15
$52.85
$48.63
SimTek
STK14CA8-RF25I
STK14CA8-RF45I
STK14CA8-RF45
1Mb
1Mb
1Mb
128Kbx8 25ns
128Kbx8 45ns
128Kbx8 45ns
70 mA
55 mA
55 mA
-40C to 85C
-40C to 85C
0C to 70C
small
small
small
$24.72
$20.64
$17.19
nvSRAM
nvSRAM
nvSRAM
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
22
Sample Application – Battery Backed SRAM Replacement
“Built-in-house” Components
Addr/Data Bus
SRAM
Problems
•
•
MCU
•
CE
Control
Chip
Battery
•
•
System design complexity
Board space and weight
Battery life
Manufacturing complexity
Environmental concerns
Addr/Data Bus
MCU
MRAM
Solutions
•
•
Problems
Addr/Data Bus
MCU
Battery
SRAM
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cost
Manufacturing complexity
Battery life
Low performance
Environmental concerns
•
•
•
•
•
Single chip solution
Simple, low cost system design
Manufacturing simplification
No battery
Unlimited life
Smaller profile
Higher performance
Environmentally friendly
“Off-the-shelf” components
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
23
Target Application – Battery Backed SRAM Replacement
Primary Usage
•
•
•
•
Data Logging
Parameter Storage
System Status
Storage Buffers
More Parts & Labor &
Board Space & Weight
System Design
Complexity
• Battery Contact Failure
• Out-of-Tolerance
Voltage Spikes
• Limited Life
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
Manufacturing
Complexity
TM
24
Standalone Market Example: RAID Storage
The Application
•
•
Redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID 0-7 & Hybrids)
RAID systems are found in imaging, video, audio, web sites, emerging multimedia programs,
transaction processing systems, mission critical backup solutions for hospitals, police, banking
and insurance firms have ever increasing needs for high transfer rates and storage capacity.
MRAM Improves Performance
•
•
•
Non volatile memory increases security & integrity
of data
Failsafe RAID cache
High data availability without BBSRAM (BatteryBacked Static RAM) difficulties
RAID
Controller
Chip
RAID
Controller
RAID
Journal
Critical
Cache
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
Configuration
Data
Disk
Arrays
TM
25
MR2A16ATS35C Application Spaces
►Target Application
•
Spaces
Data Streaming

RAID systems and servers
 POS terminals
 Data-acquisition systems
 Data logging
 Buffers
 Routers / switches
 Printers / copiers
•
System Configuration



Black-box applications
Gaming
System status
►Currently
not targeting high density, spaceconstrained applications
•
•
•
Portable digital audio players
Jump drives
Digital camera data storage
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
26
Embedded MRAM Example: System on a Chip
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
27
MRAM Compared to Flash
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
28
Sample and Production Timing
Current planning:
Now – 4Mb Qualification Samples. 0 – 70C, 35ns
Now – 4Mb Production. 0 – 70C, 35ns
1Q07 – 4Mb Qualification Samples. -40C – 105C
2Q07 – 4Mb Production Volumes. -40C – 105C
2007 – Derivative Products (to be announced)
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
29
Summary
Industry’s first high performance, reliable non volatile memory
technology.
4Mb part is available now for applications like configuration storage,
data logging, cache buffer, etc.
Industrial temperature part (-40C to 105C) will be available by
mid-2007.
Various standalone parts will be available from Freescale.
Embedded designs are being defined.
Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are
the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2006.
TM
30