MRAM

Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM)

Magnetoresistive  Random Access Memory is a non-volatile computer memory (NVRAM) technology under development since the 1990s and the advantages over SRAM, DRAM, EEPROM, and flash are so overwhelming that magnetoresistive RAM will eventually dominate all types of memory, becoming a true universal memory.^[

MRAM (magnetoresistive random access memory) uses magnetic charges instead of the electrical charges used by DRAM (dynamic random access memory) to store data.  By combining the high speed of static RAM and the high density of DRAM, MRAM significantly improves electronic products by storing greater amounts of data, accessed faster while consuming less battery power than existing electronic memory. 

·                     Storage Resources

Computer chips store information as long as electricity flows through them. Once power is turned off, the information is lost unless transferred to hard drive of disk storage.   MRAM, however, retains data after a power supply is cut off. Replacing DRAM with MRAM could prevent data loss and enable computers that start instantly without boot up.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funds private industry research into the potential of MRAM. IBM, Motorola, and Honeywell. Hewlett-Packard, Matsushita, NEC, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Hitachi, and Siemens also have invested in MRAM research.

Motorola Labs development allows the integration of several memory options within a single chip, resulting in a chip that uses less power. The chip is a three-volt MRAM with an address access time of about 15 nanoseconds. IBM and Infineon Technologies AG are worked on a proposed 256-megabit chip.

Development of MRAM basically followed two scientific schools: 1) spin electronics, the science behind giant magnetoresistive heads used in disk drives and 2) tunneling magnetic resistance, or TMR, which is expected to be the basis of future MRAM.²

In June of 2010 Hitachi and Tohoku University announced Multi-level SPRAM.³   SPRAM, the next-generation MRAM or memory that uses the magnetism of electron spin to provide non-volatility, with unlimited fortitude but difficult to manufacture in mass. Spin-transfer torque random access memory (STT-RAM) technology is a second-generation magnetic-RAM technology . It can solve some of the problems posed by conventional MRAM structures. STT-RAM technology can eventually replace DRAM, NAND and MRAM, said Grandis Inc, a developer of STT-RAM technology.⁴

^{Works Cited}

¹ Johan Åkerman, “Toward a Universal Memory”, Science, Vol. 308. no. 5721 (22 April 2005), pp. 508 - 510, DOI: 10.1126/science.1110549

²http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/MRAM

³ Y. Huai, AAPPS Bulletin, December 2008, vol. 18, no. 6, p.33, "Spin-Transfer Torque MRAM (STT-MRAM): Challenges and Prospects."

⁴http://www.ciol.com/Semicon/SemiPipes/News-Reports/Hitachi-plans-SPRAM-RD-spin-off/137594/0/