Enabling Next Generation Computer Memory Technology - Isis Project No 1461
Isis Innovation Ltd, the technology transfer arm of the University of Oxford, has a new, patented method for reading the resistive values of an array of memory elements, for example MRAM.
Marketing Opportunity
In traditional computer memory, an electrical charge is applied to store a piece of data on a memory chip. The next generation of computer memory may instead use a "magnetic" charge to store information, as this opens up the possibility of higher memory density, on memory chips that retain information when they are turned off, and can be read-from and written-to more quickly.
Existing magnetic memory chips (know as MRAM) use the virtual earth method to read the magnetic values of each unit cell in an array of magnetic memory. The circuitry involved uses valuable space on the memory chip, and adds to the complexity of the overall design.
Scientists at the University of Oxford have developed a new, simple method, which allows the resistance of individual components of MRAM to be measured easily and quickly.
The Oxford Invention
The Oxford Invention has been successfully demonstrated with MRAM in the laboratory, and has several advantages over existing methods:
- the approach/circuitry is simple, so uses less space on the memory chip and allows higher memory density
- there are fewer inherent speed restrictions in the reader circuitry, hence higher read/write speeds are possible
- the compact reader circuitry opens up the possibility of using sub-arrays, allowing further increases in speed, reliability, and scalability
- data can be read in parallel from a large number of MRAM unit cells, without the use of complex multiplexing
The Oxford technology could equally be applied to other memory technology where measuring the resistance of a single unit cell, is complicated by leakage of current from adjacent memory cells. Indeed, it could be used with any resistive array, for instance an imaging array in which the array elements have their resistance changed by the amount of light present on each element/pixel.
Patent Status
This work is the subject of a patent application, and Isis would like to talk to companies interested in developing this technology. Please contact the Isis Project Manager to discuss this further.