Germany returns to the memory game with new technology that unites DAM and persistent storage

A new partnership between the German Startup Ferroelectric Memory Company (FMC) and the Neuumonda test company marks the rebirth of memory manufacturing in Europe. The two companies announced the development of DRAM+a technology -based memory Wild beast that intends to unite speed comparable to traditional DRAM with the advantage of keeping the data even without energylike an SSD.

Fear based on hafnio oxide: the cat jump

Unlike the old versions of fear that used materials such as PZT (lead zytanate zirconato), FMC innovation is in the use of Háfnio oxide (HFO₂) as Iron Material.

Such technology has two great advantages: the material is compatible with CMOS processes (the same used in modern semiconductors) and scale well below 10 nanometersallowing large scale production with high density.

By applying the IRONHAOLETRIC EFFECT from HFO₂ to an DRAM, we transform the traditional capacitor into a low power and non -volatile storage device, maintaining the high performance of the DRAM

Thomas Rueckes, CEO da FMC

Comparative between memory types

Memory	Volatile?	Speed	Energy consumption	Retains data without energy?	Density	Cost	Common applications
DRAM	Sim	Very high	Alto	No	Alta	Average	RAM of PCs, servers and mobile devices
NAND Flash	No	Average	Low	Sim	Very high	Low	Ssds, pen drives, memory cards
Wild (PZT)	No	Average	Very low	Sim	Very low	Alto	Smartcards, Sensors, Industrial Devices
DRAM+ (HfO₂)	No	Very high (≈dram)	Low	Sim	High (evolving)	Medium-high	Ia, Automotive, Medicine, Edge Computin

Explanatory notes:

• Volatility: Volatile memories lose the data when turning off the equipment. Non -volatile retrace information even without energy.
• Speed: DRAM and DRAM+ are much faster for reading/writing than Nand and injured common.
• Consumption: FaithRAM and DRAM+ consume less energy than traditional DAM, which makes them ideal for consumer sensitive applications.
• Density: Nand Flash is still the chip capacity champion, but DRAM+ is evolving fast with the use of HFO₂.
• Cost: Nand is cheap, DRAM is reasonable, but wound traditional is expensive and limited. DRAM+ promises to balance performance and viability.

AI memory, cars, medicine and more

FMC believes its new memory can meet a variety of sectors such as artificial intelligence, automotive industry, medical devices, industrial and electronic consumer applications.

The focus is on equipment that requires high speed and optimized energy consumptionbesides the ability to maintain data even in situations of power outage.

Practical applications of the new DRAM+ memory (injured with HFO₂)

• Air Force, Space and Defense: Applications in extreme environments such as satellites or aircraft, where electrical failures are common and memory needs to be reliable and resistant.
• Autonomous cars: Store data from sensor and critical decisions in real time, without risk of loss in case of power outage, maintaining the safety of the system even in failures.
• Embedded AI Devices (Edge Ai): Allows intelligent cameras, drones and medical devices to make fast decisions locally, depending on the cloud, with low consumption and preserved data.
• Portable medical equipment: Ideal for storing vital records of clinical patients or historical on mobile devices, keeping data even after unexpected shutdowns.
• Industrial control and automation: Record real -time process settings and logs, even in environments subject to frequent energy interruptions.
• Substitute for RAM on critical computers: Suitable for servers and workstations that require DRAM speed but cannot risk losing data on restarting.
• Consumer electronics with instant boot: Allows smartphones or notebooks that connect instantly, without the need to recharge the operating system as the data remains in memory.

History and evolution of fear

Fearm is not new, but always bumped into technical limitations. The previous, PZT -based versions had difficulty integrating with the standard industry processes and offered very limited capabilities – usually between 4MB and 8MB. In addition, its structures such as 1T1C (a transistor and a capacitor) took up much more space than conventional memory cells.

The turn came with the HfO₂which allows manufacturing much more dense chips, with Gigabit range capacity to gigabytesapproaching the performance and capacity of DRAM, but with additional benefits such as non -volatility and lower energy consumption.

Feram (iron memory) timeline)

Neumonda: The ally in tests and return of European industry

To test and validate the new technology with efficient and low cost, FMC will feature Neumonda’s expertise, which will offer access to its advanced test platforms: Rhinoe, Octopus e Raptor.

These systems allow detailed and energetically efficient analysis, surpassing the performance of traditional test equipment.

One of my goals in founding Neumonda was bringing the memory semiconductor industry back to Europe. This collaboration takes us a step closer to this

Peter’s pocketmual, CEO of Neumonda

Also read:

More than a chip: a continental mission

With the union of forces between FMC and Neumonda, as well as a new promising product, Europe gains a new chance of reconstruct your presence in the semiconductor sectorparticularly in the memory segment – today dominated by Asian manufacturers. After all, DRAM+ can boost innovation in critical areas and also reinforce European technological autonomy.

Fonte: Ferroelectric Memory Company (FMC)