3D is the memory chip buzzword du jour, because reducing feature sizes is expensive, while stacking memory cells up is much less so. Fabs can use older, stable processes to build larger capacity chips with less technical risk. Samsung has announced products using their 3D flash. But NAND flash is not the only memory technology that can benefit from 3D economics. Where speed and reliability are critical various forms of Resistance RAM (ReRAM or ReRAM) are starting to make inroads. CrossBar, a venture-backed startup in Silicon Valley, is pushing the 3D bandwagon even further.

Creating 3D memory chips isn’t too hard. But packing the memory cells so they contain a lot of dense storage is a problem that has bedeviled chip makers for a while. But memory chip startup CrossBar says it has figured out a way to create 3D structures with a lot of densely packed circuitry. The result could be memory chips that can store a ton of data in a very small space. Santa Clara, Calif.-based CrossBar disclosed what it called a breakthrough innovation at the 2014 International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco today. It will enable high-density storage with faster response times and lower power consumption. As such, it could be useful in everything from data centers to smartphones.

Contributed Article by CrossBar’s Sung Hyun Jo, Ph.D.

As floating-gate flash memory technologies used in the majority of products on the market today quickly approach the limits of their ability to scale to higher densities, it has become widely recognized that a new non-volatile memory technology is needed to replace them. Resistive random-access memory (ReRAM) is widely hailed as the “most likely to succeed” in the race to replace today’s flash memory with a new, more scalable, higher-capacity, higher-performance and more reliable non-volatile memory. While many companies are actively pursuing ReRAM technologies, however, the road to creating commercially viable ReRAM products has not been easy.

Contributed Article by Sundar Narayanan, CrossBar

Resistive memory technologies involving simple two-terminal devices can be integrated into backend metal layers to provide an elegant solution for meeting density, capacity, and cost challenges.

By Peter Clarke

It has been more than 18 months since EE Times last produced a version of the Silicon 60. The global economic, entrepreneurial, and electronics business climates have all improved in that time, and EE Times has brought 38 recently formed companies on to version 15.1 of its list of 60 firms that we feel are worth keeping an eye on.

By Jim Turley

I gotta say, memory chips are boring.

And that’s coming from a guy who lives and works in the chip business. Sure, I can get all excited about microprocessor chips. I can generally keep my eyes open through a discussion of interface chips. I’ve even been known to nod occasionally when the topic turns to cryptography chips. But memory? Give me some toothpicks for my eyelids.

By David Manners

CrossBar, the four year-old Santa Clara resistive RAM (ReRAM) start-up, has demonstrated pre-production 1Mb arrays. The array uses CrossBar’s using its patented “1TnR” (1 Transistor driving n Resistive memory cells) technology which makes it possible for a single transistor to manage a very large number of interconnected memory cells, enabling very high capacity solid-state storage.

Other memories utilising passive cross-point architectures, such as Resistive RAM, PCM (Phase Change Memory) and neuromorphic systems, experience unintended electrical current when accessing high density storage due to “sneak path current.” .

By Carol Sliwa

Many enterprises are still getting a handle on the best ways to use NAND flash, but they can already scope out some of the potential successors to the solid-state storage technology.

CrossBar Inc. specializes in non-volatile 3D Resistive RAM (ReRAM), which promises greater endurance and higher density than NAND flash. The Santa Clara, California-based startup claims that it reached an important milestone toward commercializing terabyte-scale memory arrays that can use a chip the size of a postage stamp.

Contributed Article by Sylvain Dubois, CrossBar

New computer chips that have instant-on capabilities found in tablet devices but also provide higher performance, will change the way people use personal computers, according to an industry analyst.

Continuing research in solid-state technologies are leading to the development of so-called magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) and resistive random access memory (ReRAM) chips that offer many advantages over conventional DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips, according to Tom Coughlin, founder of Coughlin Associates, a data storage consulting firm.

DRAM chips store data using an electrical charge in each memory cell. Capacitors used in DRAM chips lose their charge over time and memory assemblies using DRAM must refresh all the cells in their chips approximately 20 times per second. As DRAM cell decrease in size their need to refresh increases.

New chips that blur the line between computer memory and storage are starting to move beyond niche applications and could change how we use PCs, an industry analyst said Sunday.

The chips would enable the same instant-on capability that’s common on tablets, but at much higher performance, said Tom Coughlin, founder of Coughlin Associates.

“We’re seeing the development of new solid-state storage technologies that are starting to play a role,” he said. “MRAM is one that we’re seeing playing a role providing a non-volatile memory technology, and there’s some talk about resistive RAM doing some things.”.

By Mark LaPedus

Planar NAND flash memory is on its last scaling legs, with 3D NAND set to become the successor to the ubiquitous 2D technology. Samsung Electronics, for one, already has begun shipping the industry’s first 3D NAND device, a 24-level, 128-gigabit chip. In addition, Micron and SK Hynix shortly will ship their respective 3D NAND devices. But the Toshiba-SanDisk duo are the lone holdouts, as the joint venture partners will extend planar NAND as long as possible before rolling out a 3D NAND device in 2016.

By William Wong

CrossBar’s resistive RAM (ReRAM) joins magnetic and phase-change non-volatile memory technologies that are competing against the entrenched flash storage market. It will have lots of competition, but ReRAM’s features may put it ahead of the pack.

Last month we saw some major developments in two storage technologies - Vertical NAND (V-NAND) and Resistive RAM (ReRAM) - which have the potential to change the way we view storage. We currently have two choices - spinning mechanical hard drives and flash based solid state drives (SSD). The spinning hard drives still offer the best cost per GB as compared to flash-based SSDs, but each of these technologies come with their own set of issues. Hard drives lack the speedy access times and low-power goodness offered by an SSD. The only way to currently get the best of both worlds - lower cost per GB and fast access times - is to invest in a hybrid .drive. But as far as SSDs are concerned, while the costs may have come down, they are still grappling with their own set of issues.

CrossBar, a University of Michigan (U-M) startup, has developed a working prototype of an advanced data storage technology that could revolutionize memory for mobile devices.

Solid-state drive adoption will continue to grow and it will be more than 10 years before it is ultimately replaced by a new memory technology, experts said.

Processing images 1,000-times faster using brain-like neural-network chips is the four-year goal of a $5.7 million University of Michigan research project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).

The Flash Memory Summit was host to a range of new technology, from LSI’s SandForce flash memory controllers utilizing a multi-level low-density parity check (LDPC) to the Hybrid Memory Cube (see “Hybrid Memory Cube Shows New Direction For High Performance Storage” at electronicdesign.com).

The 2013 Flash Memory Summit (FMS) is happening on August 13-15, 2013 in Santa Clara California.

The next generation of smartphones could be capable of storing 250 hours of HD video and carrying a charge for a week, thanks to an advanced data storage technology from a University of Michigan startup that could upend the memory market.

What if we told you that a terabyte of data can fit on something the size of a postage stamp? You’d think we’re crazy, right? Well, California-based startup CrossBar has done just that.

Startup memory vendor CrossBar has unveiled a type of Resistive RAM (ReRAM) that can store up to one terabyte of data on a chip the size of a postage stamp, while reportedly offering twenty times the performance of existing flash memory.

CrossBar says its emerging Resistive RAM technology rewrites the rules for storage and power consumption on mobile devices.

As we rely more on phones and tablets for our computing needs, it seems like we’re always running out of storage. Most mobile devices top out at 64GB, and while you might see a tablet with 128GB of 256GB of storage, that’s still a long way from the terabyte or more that you find on even the most basic laptops and desktops.

CrossBar has shed light on its ReRAM (Resistive RAM) technology intended to significantly boost capacity and performance of standalone and embedded memory. According to the company, the new approach will deliver 20x faster write performance, 20x lower power consumption, and 10x the endurance at half the die size, compared to today’s best-in-class NAND Flash memory.

Resistive RAM by CrossBar Technologies could well be the future of memory technology, rendering NAND insignificant.

Move over, NAND flash memory. Santa Clara-based startup CrossBar, Inc. has developed a non-volatile memory technology based on resistive random-access memory.

CrossBar, Inc. has come out of stealth mode with a fascinating new alternative memory technology. Furthermore, the company says that a working memory array has been produced at a commercial fab.

CrossBar, the Santa Clara startup, recently announced a game-changing new memory chip that has the potential to replace flash memory in a number of applications.

The company CrossBar announced it will start producing the first prototypes of restive memory, also known as ReRAM.

Stealth startup CrossBar’s ReRAM technology will deliver 20x faster write performance; 20x lower power consumption and 10x the endurance at half the die size, compared to today’s best-in-class NAND Flash memory. Since it is CMOS-compatible, it can be easily integrated into existing fabs and processes without any special equipment or materials.

Santa Clara-based startup CrossBar has just announced a potentially game-changing new memory chip that it claims has the potential to replace standard flash memory in a number of applications.

Startup CrossBar emerged from stealth mode Monday to announce its version of ReRAM (resistive random-access memory), a new type of memory that could be a successor to flash storage and DRAM.

Emerging from stealth-mode today, Californian start-up CrossBar unveils its CrossBar Resistive RAM (ReRAM) technology.

“Today’s non-volatile memory technologies are running out of steam, hitting significant barriers as they scale to smaller manufacturing processes,” says George Minassian, CEO of CrossBar, “with our working CrossBar array, we have achieved all the major technical milestones that prove our ReRAM technology is easy to manufacture and ready for commercialization.”

Flash, despite its vast success, is hardly an ideal storage medium - for one thing it gets slower and more fragile as it shrinks - so many expect resistance RAM - ReRAM - to win long term. CrossBar announces the first ReRAM that could replace flash.

of stealth with a demonstration unit of resistive RAM that could present a viable next-generation alternative to NAND flash for devices and servers.

A new memory technology company, CrossBar, has broken cover with a new ReRAM design it claims will allow for commercialization of the technology.

Startup CrossBar emerged from stealth mode Monday to announce its version of ReRAM (resistive random-access memory), a new type of memory that could be a successor to flash storage and DRAM.