Israel-based Weebit Nano Limited, a developer of advanced memory technologies for the global semiconductor industry, has fully qualified its Resistive Random-Access Memory (ReRAM) module up to 125 ˚C, the temperature specified for automotive grade 1 Non-Volatile Memories (NVMs). This achievement demonstrates the suitability of Weebit ReRAM for use in microcontrollers and other automotive components, as well as high-temperature industrial and IoT applications.

ReRAM, a type of non-volatile memory technology, is a potential alternative to existing memory technologies such as Flash and DRAM (Dynamic Random-Access Memory). ReRAM offers several advantages, such as low power consumption, high read and write speeds, and scalability.

The qualification, using Weebit’s demo chips manufactured by its R&D partner CEA-Leti, was performed based on JEDEC industry standards for NVMs. These standards impose rigorous testing of many silicon dies blindly selected from three independent wafer lots.

Most chips for consumer and industrial applications need to be qualified for up to 10 years at temperatures between zero and 85 degrees Celsius. Advanced automotive components are much more stringent, requiring qualification at higher temperatures for 10 years or longer, with zero failures.

All the Weebit dies successfully passed the entire set of qualification tests at 125 ˚C for 10 years retention, demonstrating the quality and repeatability of Weebit’s embedded ReRAM IP for applications requiring high-temperature reliability.

This achievement is part of an ongoing process through which we are extending the qualification of our ReRAM technology to even higher temperatures, longer retention and higher endurance levels. In our discussions with Tier-1 foundries and semiconductor companies, we’re seeing increased interest in our ReRAM for automotive and industrial applications. Proving the resilience of Weebit ReRAM at such high temperatures will continue to move these discussions forward. We believe ReRAM to be a better choice for automotive and industrial applications compared to other emerging NVMs not only because of its high temperature performance, but also its low complexity, cost effectiveness, and other advantages such as tolerance to radiation and electromagnetic interference.

—Coby Hanoch, CEO of Weebit Nano

Embedded ReRAM is a promising candidate for automotive applications, demonstrating better performance metrics than flash, such as programming time, endurance, and power consumption. Thanks to the involvement of major foundries and leading automotive MCU suppliers, the volume of embedded ReRAM wafers is expected to rise at a CAGR >80% between 2022 and 2028. In this dynamic context, Weebit’s ReRAM can cost-effectively scale to advanced process nodes, where modern automotive chips are designed. Weebit Nano is joining industry leaders in pioneering resistive memory technology for this growing market, offering chip designers an opportunity to create automotive circuits with a better balance of performance, power and cost.

—Simone Bertolazzi, Principal Technology & Market Analyst, Memory at Yole Intelligence

The Weebit ReRAM demo chip comprises a full sub-system for embedded applications, including the Weebit ReRAM module, a RISC-V microcontroller (MCU), system interfaces, memories and peripherals. The ReRAM module includes a 128Kb 1T1R ReRAM array, control logic, decoders, IOs (Input/Output communication elements) and error correcting code (ECC). It is designed with unique patent-pending analog and digital circuitry running smart algorithms that significantly enhance the memory array’s technical parameters.

Weebitcontinues to extend the qualification of its ReRAM modules to higher temperature and endurance levels, both with CEA-Leti and SkyWater Technology.

ReRAM. Current memory technologies such as DRAM and Flash store data as an electrical charge; each technology does it in its own way. ReRAM (or RRAM) and some other emerging NVM technologies such as Phase Change Memory (PCM) and Magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM) instead store bits as resistance.

Each of these advanced technologies use a different technique to reversibly change the resistance of a material; PCM uses heat, MRAM uses magnetization, and ReRAM uses material resistivity.

At a basic level, ReRAM (also called RRAM) is a memristor technology. Resistance can be programmed using electric voltage. The Weebit oxide-based ReRAM (OxRAM) cell consists of a thin oxide switching layer between two electrodes. Source: Weebit

ReRAM uses materials that can change their resistance state between two distinct levels in response to an electric field. The change in resistance is reversible and can be controlled by applying different voltages or currents. With ReRAM, the application of positive and negative voltages creates either a 1 (low resistance state) or a 0 (high resistance state) to store data in the memory cell.

Weebit says that this ability to store data as resistance enables these technologies to scale to more advanced geometries than those that store it as an electrical charge.