Spingate has been developing a proprietary 3^rd generation of nonvolatile magnetic random access memory (MRAM).

MRAM of the 1^st generation has been on the market since 2006. The 1^st generation MRAM is using magnetic materials with in-plane anisotropy and field induced switching mechanism (iF-MRAM). There are several modifications of the iF-MRAM, however all of them suffer from similar problems, such as poor scalability, large cell size (about 40F²), design complexity, high write energy per bit, etc.

MRAM of the 2^nd generation also employs the magnetic materials with in-plane anisotropy along with a spin induced switching (or spin torque transfer) mechanism (iS-MRAM). The iS-MRAM has been under intense development at many companies for several years. It has a smaller cell size (about 14F²) and significantly smaller write energy than those of the iF-MRAM. However the iS-MRAM like iF-MRAM suffers from several fundamental issues caused by use of the magnetic materials with the in-plane anisotropy. Scalability of the iS-MRAM (up to about 45 nm node) is limited by its poor thermal stability. The iS-MRAM has relatively high write energy, large cell size, and substantial sensitivity to external (stray) magnetic fields that can unexpectedly erase already recorded data. Besides, the iS-MRAM like its predecessor requires special elliptical shape of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) that is difficult to control across a large wafer at nanoscale dimensions.

Spingate's proprietary MRAM technology is based on the use of magnetic materials having perpendicular anisotropy along with the spin induced switching mechanism (pS-MRAM). Spingate’s pS-MRAM doesn't require MTJs having the special elliptical shape. It has excellent scalability (up to 8 nm node), high write/read speed, low write energy, and reduced stray field sensitivity.

The most recent Spingate accomplishment is an invention of a pS-MRAM cell with a size of 4F² in a 2D configuration representing the smallest memory cell reported in the industry. The invented design can easily be transformed into a 3D architecture. As a result, the effective cell size could be reduced down to 1F² with four MTJ layers.

According to our estimates the 2D pS-MRAM can effectively compete in price/bit with DRAM and SLC NAND flash. Respectively, the 3D pS-MRAM can compete in price/bit with MLC NAND flash and outperforms the flash in endurance, speed and many other parameters.

3D pS-MRAM can provide bit density comparable to that in hard disk drives (HDDs). Current areal density in HDDs is about 650 Gb/in², which corresponds to approximately 1 Gb/mm². Further increase of the magnetic recording density looks problematic due to several fundamental issues. The 3D pS-MRAM can exceed the density of 1 Gb/mm² with the following technology node F:

·         F = 22 nm with four layers of MTJs, or

·        F = 16 nm with two layers of MTJs.