Fujitsu Begins Mass Production of 1Mbit FRAM

Online staff -- Electronic News, 11/17/2004

Part of a class of nanostorage devices predicted to generate $65.7 billion in annual revenue by 2011, Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc. today rolled out its 1Mbit ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) that features high-speed read and write operations, low-power consumption and high endurance.

In addition to FRAM, the nano-engineered information storage device segment includes MRAM, holographic memory, ovonic unified memory, molecular memory, nanotube RAM, MEMS-based memory and polymer memory, all of which are expected to generate initial revenues in the next couple of years, according to market researchers at NanoMarkets LC.

Fujitsu’s 1Mbit FRAM devices, the MB85R1001 (x8 bits) and the MB85R1002 (x16 bits), were built using 0.35-micron 1T1C cell technology, designed to address the growing demand for non-volatile memory with high-speed operation, low-power consumption and high endurance in such applications as office equipment and home appliances. 1T1C cell technology doubles the amount of capacity provided by its traditional 2T2C cell technology without an increase in die size. FRAMs combine the features of both RAM and ROM to support the major requirements of these applications, including storing security information and status monitoring, the company said.

Further, FRAM replaces battery back-up memory and offers many other advantages including easy production and maintenance. Compared to EEPROM, FRAMs allow for write speeds more than 10,000 times faster while consuming less than one-tenth the power, with a rewriting endurance of more than 100,000 times higher than EEPROM.

The 1Mbit FRAM is available now in TSOP48 and FBGA48 packages, with sample pricing beginning at $19 each in 1,000-piece units.