An Overview of Non-Volatile Memory Technology and the Implication for Tools and Architectures

Novel nonvolatile memory technologies are gaining significant attentions from semiconductor industry in the competition of universal memory development. We used Spin-Transfer Torque Random Access Memory (STT-RAM) and Resistive Random Access Memory (R-RAM) as examples to discuss the implication of emerging nonvolatile memory for tools and architectures. Three aspects, including device and memory cell modeling, device/circuit co-design consideration and novel memory architecture, are discussed in details. The goal of these discussions is to design a high-density, low-power, high-performance nonvolatile memory with simple architecture and minimized circuit design complexity.