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Written by Sergiu
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TEXAS INSTRUMENTS AND RAMTRON ADVANCE FRAM TECHNOLOGY TO 130-NANOMETER PROCESS DALLAS (March 12, 2007) -- Texas Instruments (TI) (NYSE: TXN) and Ramtron International Corporation (Nasdaq: RMTR), a leading supplier of nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) and integrated semiconductor products, announced a significant milestone in the development of FRAM technology that has resulted in a commercial manufacturing agreement for FRAM memory products. The agreement provides for the production of Ramtron's FRAM memory products on TI's advanced 130-nanometer (nm) FRAM manufacturing process, including Ramtron's 4-Mb FRAM memory announced concurrently in a separate press release. Ramtron and TI have been working together since August 2001, when the companies entered into a FRAM licensing and development agreement.
"This manufacturing agreement marks a major leap forward in the commercialization of higher-density FRAM products," said Ramtron CEO Bill Staunton. "Ramtron will capitalize on TI's proven, advanced 130-nm process technology and advanced manufacturing capabilities with high-density, stand-alone FRAM memories. In addition to a 4-Mb device, we are planning to sample at least one additional product off of the TI line in 2007."
"Our joint collaboration with Ramtron and commercialization of FRAM technology on TI's 130-nm process sets a new standard for the production of high density FRAM devices," said Dr. Ted Moise, director of FRAM development at TI. "Through straightforward additions to our standard 130-nm manufacturing process, we have achieved cost, power, and performance standards that will be difficult for other embedded nonvolatile memory technologies to match."
TI's Advanced FRAM Process To create the embedded FRAM module, TI added only two additional mask steps to its standard, 130-nm copper-interconnect process. By moving to a 130-nm process, the companies will deliver Ramtron's 4-Mb FRAM memories using the smallest commercial FRAM cells shown-to-date, measuring only 0.71um², and enabling a higher memory density than that achieved with SRAM cells. To achieve this cell size, the process features an innovative capacitor-over-plug process that places the nonvolatile capacitor stack directly on top of the W-plug transistor contact.
FRAM memory combines the fast access and low-power qualities of volatile DRAM with the ability to retain data without power. Other nonvolatile memories such as EEPROM and Flash are less efficient to embed because of multiple mask steps, longer write times, and increased power required to write data. In addition, FRAM's small cell size and minimal mask additions allow FRAM to be produced at a lower cost than SRAM for embedded applications. FRAM also consumes much lower power than MRAM and is already commercially proven in demanding automotive, metering, industrial and computing applications.
"FRAM's fast access time, low power dissipation, small cell size, and affordable manufacturing cost means it is well suited for a wide range of applications," continued Dr. Moise. "Systems requiring low-power, non-volatile memory, fast data protection prior to power-down, or unlimited write endurance will benefit greatly from FRAM's capabilities."
How FRAM Works At the core of FRAM technology are tiny ferroelectric crystals integrated into a capacitor that allow FRAM products to operate like fast nonvolatile RAMs. The electric polarization of the ferroelectric crystals is shifted between two stable states by the application of an electric field. The direction of this electric polarization is sensed by internal circuits as either a high or a low logic state. Each orientation is stable and remains in place even after the electric field is removed, preserving the data within the memory without periodic refresh.
TI fabricates planar FRAM cells using a capacitor-on-plug approach to minimize cell area. The ferroelectric capacitor is formed using Iridium electrodes and a thin Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) ferroelectric layer. From : http://focus.ti.com/docs/pr /pressrelease.jhtml?prelId=sc07040 |
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Written by Bogdan
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Motorola unveils enhanced radio card Motorola announced the LA-5127 Wireless Networker CompactFlash client radio card with 802.11b/g connectivity. According to the company, the radio card offers enhanced Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) enterprise mode security and enables wireless network connectivity for non-wireless equipment such as mobile printers, weight scales, instrumentation and health-care monitoring devices. The LA-5127 is available to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and includes a software development kit, which lets OEMs embed the technology into an existing product line. OEMs can then build custom products—used in vertical markets including healthcare, transportation and logistics, warehousing and distribution, and retail—to transmit critical information from the point of business activity. “Our OEM clients want to provide their customers with devices that can be wirelessly connected to a network for capturing and sharing information in real-time,” said Sujai Hajela, vice president and general manager of wireless infrastructure, Motorola Networks & Enterprise, in a statement. “The LA-5127 Wireless Networker comes in a small, power-efficient package with a feature set optimized for today's business-critical mobile enterprise applications.” The product is regulatory approved in more than 70 countries throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia, according to the company. |
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Written by Administrator
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SiGe power transistor operates to 5 GHz RQG2003 is a high-performance power SiGe HBT intended for operation at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. In IEEE 802.11 a/b/g wireless LAN routers/terminals, RF tag readers/writers, digital cordless phones, and similar products, this power transistor can eliminate the power amplifier modules and monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) typically used to drive the transmitting antenna. As a result, it allows engineers to design systems that consume less power, are smaller, and cost less to build. At 5.8 GHz, for example, the SiGe device has a power gain of 6.4 dB, a 1 dB gain compression power of 26.5 dBm, and a power addition efficiency of 33.6%. At 2.4 GHz, it provides a power gain of 13.0 dB, a 1 dB gain compression power of 26.5 dBm, and a power addition efficiency of 66%. The RQG2003 is the first Renesas Technology product to use the double-trench structure, in which trench isolation and a conductive trench are formed in a single transistor area. This structure reduces the parasitic capacitance between the substrate and transistor that degrades high-frequency characteristics, resulting in a major improvement in power gain and power addition efficiency in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Also, the conductive trench is constructed in a way that connects the electrodes and substrate by means of via holes, making it possible to reduce the inductance originating from wire bonding, for improvement in power gain and power addition efficiency. The RF power transistor is built with a SiGeC process, in which a SiGe base is doped with carbon, and has an optimized transistor pattern. These techniques have increased the collector current density and improved the 1 dB gain compression power by approximately 1.5 dBm compared with the HSG2002 device. The RQG2003 uses an optimal silver paste to achieve high reliability and conductivity for die bonding. A Sn-Bi (stannum-bismuth) compound is used for package electrode plating, providing a totally lead-free implementation. The RQG2003 is available in the 8-pin WQFN0202 package. The device will be available in March, with a sample price of $0.87 each. |
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