Ferroelectric Memory Co. (FMC) has joined forces with Neumonda to reestablish production of the so-called DRAM+ in Germany. It's been a while since Infineon and Qimonda developed and produced dynamic random access memory in Germany, as it became particularly unprofitable to build commodity memory in Europe. However, the new FMC and Neumonda venture will focus on non-volatile FeRAM aimed at specific applications.

FMC specializes in memory that uses ferroelectric hafnium oxide (HfO2) to create DRAM+ that retains data without power. The technology replaces the typical capacitor in DRAM with a non-volatile version, keeping performance high while adding energy efficiency and data retention. FMC believes that its memory could be used for a wide range of applications, including AI, automotive, consumer, industrial, and medical.

Older FeRAM technologies (typically using lead zirconate titanate, or PZT, as the ferroelectric layer) were limited in capacity. Most commercial products topped out at a few megabytes, with 4MB or 8MB being quite common. PZT does not scale well with shrinking process nodes, and integration with standard CMOS processes is difficult and costly. As a result, cell structures like 1T1C (one transistor, one capacitor) consumed more area than DRAM or NAND.

Ferroelectric Memory Co. (FMC) has joined forces with Neumonda to reestablish production of the so-called DRAM+ in Germany. It's been a while since Infineon and Qimonda developed and produced dynamic random access memory in Germany, as it became particularly unprofitable to build commodity memory in Europe. However, the new FMC and Neumonda venture will focus on non-volatile FeRAM aimed at specific applications.

FMC specializes in memory that uses ferroelectric hafnium oxide (HfO2) to create DRAM+ that retains data without power. The technology replaces the typical capacitor in DRAM with a non-volatile version, keeping performance high while adding energy efficiency and data retention. FMC believes that its memory could be used for a wide range of applications, including AI, automotive, consumer, industrial, and medical.

Older FeRAM technologies (typically using lead zirconate titanate, or PZT, as the ferroelectric layer) were limited in capacity. Most commercial products topped out at a few megabytes, with 4MB or 8MB being quite common. PZT does not scale well with shrinking process nodes, and integration with standard CMOS processes is difficult and costly. As a result, cell structures like 1T1C (one transistor, one capacitor) consumed more area than DRAM or NAND.

"As our test platforms are maturing, FMC’s products are an ideal test ground to prove the capabilities of our Rhinoe, Octopus, and Raptor testers, as well as the high-quality yield they enable," explained Peter Poechmueller, CEO of Neumonda. "One of my personal goals behind founding Neumonda was to bring semiconductor memory back to Europe. With this collaboration, we take a big step closer to establishing a new German memory manufacturer."

By: DocMemory
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