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Filling the void between fast/expensive DRAM and slow/cheaper flash

Looks to be spin about spin and torque talk

The AupM001 storage module is made of ST-MRAM (Spin Torque Magnetic RAM) which combines DRAM speed with non-volatility and an interface compatible with DDR3 SDRAM.

IT is a candidate tech to fill the void between fast, expensive and volatile DRAM on the one hand, and slow, cheaper, and persistent flash on the other.

Intel and Micron have just launched 3D XPoint memory aimed at roughly the same place in the market while HGST and Mellanox are involved in PCIe-connected PCM storage devices which is a third contender for this spot in the DRAM-NAND gap.

As a DRAM-NAND gap filling candidate ST-MRAM chips from Everspin are here now and shipping in products, which is much more than be said about both PCM and XPoint.

It does not have wide adoption, and its use as in high-speed, buffer-type functions suggests its cost-profile might work against wider adoption.

The AupM001 comes in an M.2 form factor and uses Everspin’s 64Mbit EMD3D064M ST-MRAM chips with a PCIe backhaul interface. It can deliver up to 800MT/sec/in of DDR3 operations and has a 400MHz clock with a 512-bit page size.

ST_MRAM_stack

The ST-MRAM stack. MTJ stands for Magnetic Tunnel Junction

Aupera has launched Aup1000 and Aup2000 all-flash arrays and they use AupM001 modules for parity checking and as a hardware-accelerated engine for specific applications that need low latency and higher performance.

Mangstor uses Everspin’s ST-MRAM as a high-speed buffer in its MX6300 PCIe flash card.

Think of this ST-MRAM as DRAM performance level, non-volatile RAM with high endurance for storage and computing markets.

Everspin_ST_MRAM_DIMM

Everspin ST-MRAM DIMM

Everspin aims to scale up its MRAM tech to gigabit densities and higher speeds, with 256Mbit and 1GBit stages on the road map. It will make the 256Mbit to 1Gbit jump by flipping its in-plane ST-MRAM cells onto their sides to make perpendicular MRAM occupying a smaller footprint.

Check out a slide deck on Everspin’s ST-MRAM tech here®

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