SBIR Phase I: Electric-Field-Controlled Nonvolatile Magnetic Memory Devices

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将开发新型电场控制磁存储器设备，其中非易失性存储器位的切换由电压（即电场）执行，而不是自旋极化电流或磁场，用于极低能耗应用。 这些存储器件将用于磁电随机存取存储器（梅拉姆），与最先进的磁存储器（MRAM）如自旋转移矩（STT-MRAM）相比，在能效（高达100倍）、密度（高达10倍）和可扩展性（低至10 nm）方面具有显著优势。由于不使用电流，因此通过抑制欧姆损耗（发热）来提高能效。该项目将专注于梅拉姆磁性位设计的开发和优化。他们的表现将被测试和比较，以确定最有前途的候选产品开发。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力将在先进的低功耗电子领域。特别是，高存储密度允许梅拉姆用作非易失性替代品，以取代动态随机存取存储器（DRAM，370亿美元市场），使其非易失性并提高其速度，能效和可扩展性。此外，梅拉姆出色的能效使其能够与CMOS集成，从而可能在移动的片上系统（SoC）的超低功耗逻辑中产生革命性的新应用。这将导致即时开启的非易失性电子设备，其可以在不丢失信息的情况下瞬时通电/断电。它允许一个全新的用户体验，其中传统的启动和关闭时间被消除，并通过消除待机电源提供节能，代表了一个新的电子范例。梅拉姆是唯一能够满足此类应用所有要求的非易失性存储器技术。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop novel electric-field-controlled magnetic memory devices, where switching of the nonvolatile memory bits is performed by voltages (i.e. electric fields), rather than spin-polarized currents or magnetic fields, for extremely low energy dissipation applications. These memory devices will be used in a Magnetoelectric Random Access Memory (MeRAM), providing significant advantages in terms of energy efficiency (up to 100x), density (up to 10x), and scalability (down to 10nm) compared to state-of-the-art magnetic memories (MRAM) such as spin transfer torque (STT-MRAM). The improved energy efficiency results from the suppression of Ohmic losses (heating) since no currents are used. This project will focus on development and optimization of magnetic bit designs for MeRAM. Their performance will be tested and compared to identify the most promising candidates for product development. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be in the broad area of advanced low-power electronics. In particular, the high memory density allows for MeRAM to be used as a nonvolatile alternative to replace dynamic random access memory (DRAM, a $37B market), making it nonvolatile and improving its speed, energy efficiency, and scalability. Additionally, the excellent energy efficiency of MeRAM allows it to be integrated with CMOS, potentially resulting in revolutionary new applications in ultralow-power logic for mobile systems on chip (SoC). This will result in instant-on nonvolatile electronics, which can be powered on/off instantaneously without the loss of information. It allows for an entirely new user experience where traditional boot-up and shut-down times are eliminated, and provides energy savings by eliminating standby power, representing a new paradigm in electronics. MeRAM is the only nonvolatile memory technology that meets all the requirements for such applications.