The FeRAM (Ferroelectric RAM) memory type itself is not something new, but Micron has managed to significantly improve it.
About what Micron reinvented FeRAM memory became known only the other day, although the presentation of the development took place back in December last year as part of the IEDM 2023 event. FeRAM has been in production for more than 20 years, but the reason for the unpopularity of this type of memory was the small capacity of the crystals – from 8 to 128 Mbit. Micron managed to raise the bar to 32 Gbit, which opens up completely new prospects for the computer industry.
The fact is that FeRAM is faster than the currently popular NAND memory – in terms of read/write speeds, it is close to RAM DRAM. At the same time, it is energy-independent, wear-resistant, and is not afraid of radiation and electromagnetic radiation, and temperature fluctuations. All these advantages make it an ideal candidate for data storage.
Micron said that a prototype chip with FeRAM memory was able to withstand up to 10 to the 15th power of rewrite cycles, which cannot be compared with the average 10,000 rewrite cycles of NAND. Moreover, Micron’s development makes it possible to achieve write speeds of 70-120 ns, while for Nand this figure is close to 300 μs – a difference of at least 2500 times! At the same time, it is stated that it is possible to store data without supplying power to the chips for about 10 years.
It remains unknown whether Micron plans to further develop FeRAM memory, and whether the company will use it in real products for the mass consumer. Most likely, an ordinary user will be able to “touch” this type of memory if Micron manages to make FeRAM inexpensive. Indeed, today there are other promising developments, some of the features and high cost of which have made them niche products.
Pavel Kolesnikov
