Ovonic unified memory (OUM) is an advanced memory technology that uses a chalcogenide alloy (GeSbTe).The alloy has two states: a high resistance amorphous state and a low resistance polycrystalline state. These states are used for the representation of reset and set states respectively. The performance and attributes of the memory make it an attractive alternative to flash memory and potentially competitive with the existing non volatile memory technology.
Almost 25% of the world wide chip markets are memory devices, each type used for their specific advantages: the high speed of an SRAM, the high integration density of a DRAM, or the nonvolatile capability of a FLASH memory device.The industry is searching for a holy grail of future memory technologies to service the upcoming market of portable and wireless devices. These applications are already available based on existing memory technology, but for a successful market penetration. A higher performance at a lower price is required.
The existing technologies are characterized by the following limitations. DRAMs are difficult to intergrate.SRAMs are expensive. FLASH memory can have only a limited number of read and write cycles.EPROMs have high power requirement and poor flexibility.There is a growing need for nonvolatile memory technology for high density stand alone embedded CMOS application with faster write speed and higher endurance than existing nonvolatile memories. OUM is a promising technology to meet this need. R.G.Neale, D.L.Nelson, and Gorden.E.Moore originally reported a phase-change memory array based on chalcogenide materials in 1970. Improvements in phase-change materials technology subsequently paved the way for development of commercially available rewriteable CDs and DVD optical memory disks. These advances, coupled with significant technology scaling and better understanding of the fundamental electrical device operation, have motivated development of the OUM technology at the present day technology node.
Almost 25% of the world wide chip markets are memory devices, each type used for their specific advantages: the high speed of an SRAM, the high integration density of a DRAM, or the nonvolatile capability of a FLASH memory device.The industry is searching for a holy grail of future memory technologies to service the upcoming market of portable and wireless devices. These applications are already available based on existing memory technology, but for a successful market penetration. A higher performance at a lower price is required.
The existing technologies are characterized by the following limitations. DRAMs are difficult to intergrate.SRAMs are expensive. FLASH memory can have only a limited number of read and write cycles.EPROMs have high power requirement and poor flexibility.There is a growing need for nonvolatile memory technology for high density stand alone embedded CMOS application with faster write speed and higher endurance than existing nonvolatile memories. OUM is a promising technology to meet this need. R.G.Neale, D.L.Nelson, and Gorden.E.Moore originally reported a phase-change memory array based on chalcogenide materials in 1970. Improvements in phase-change materials technology subsequently paved the way for development of commercially available rewriteable CDs and DVD optical memory disks. These advances, coupled with significant technology scaling and better understanding of the fundamental electrical device operation, have motivated development of the OUM technology at the present day technology node.
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