Cavendish Kinetics is a fabless semiconductor company active in the area of design and integration of MEMS devices into standard CMOS processes. In particular, Cavendish Kinetics has developed the Nanomech™ embedded process module, which is based on standard CMOS processing. The company’s Nanomech-based activities are focused on the development and qualification of non volatile memory technology which originated at the famous Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University. We spoke with Mike Beunder, the CEO of Cavendish Kinetics.
MEMS Investor Journal: You have been marketing your MEMS based memory solution as a beneficial replacement for currently used memory technologies. What are the main advantages of your technology as compared to prior art?
Mike Beunder: Our technology is focused first of all as an embedded non-volatile memory technology. The reason it is developed as an embedded memory technology is its many advantages over the conventional embedded NVM technologies. These advantages are directly related to the mechanical character of our switch/cantilever-based solution. The main advantages of Cavendish Kinetics Nanomech embedded non-volatile memory technology are:
- It’s native programming voltage (e.g. programs at the voltage level that is native to the base-line process which can be for instance 1.0V for a 130nm CMOS process). All existing non-volatile technologies require 8-12 volts for programming which has become a major problem for embedding into the new CMOS processes which have native voltages at 1.0V and below.
- It uses an electrostatic programming mechanism which is ultra low-power as there are no currents running as part of the programming event. This in contrast to existing NVM technologies that require high-voltage (as explained in the previous item) and high current for programming.
- It continues to function for both read and write operations over the full military temperature range and beyond. For instance it will be able to write at 200oCelcius, something that no other NVM technology can do.
- It is completely insensitive to radiation, e.g. fully rad-hard
- It can perform a write operation at a speed below 100ns compared to conventional non-volatile memory which has a write/erase speed of around 1-5ms.
- Its back-end-of-line (BEOL) integration that leaves the front-end-of-line (FEOL) part of the process where the transistors are located untouched. This means that once a new process is available, the non-volatile process option is available immediately as well. This means that the time-to-market (TTM) for the embedded NVM process option has been reduced from 18 months or more to virtually zero.
- The technology supports a full line of ultra low-power non-volatile memory devices ranging from a simple one-time programmable device to a multi-time programmable device. One-time and multi-time programmable memory can be mixed and matched according to the application requirements.
Also, as you are correctly remarking that this is a MEMS device (or actually a NEMS device as the structures are deep sub-micron). However, I want to make it clear that the process is completely standard CMOS and there is no need for additional process equipment or new materials. As the process also provides for a micro-encapsulation on device level, the wafer does not need any special handling and/or packaging.
MIJ: What about challenges and limitations of your technology?
Beunder: The challenges that Nanomech is facing is the same challenge that any new memory technology would be facing. In addition, because it is clearly a paradigm shift with respect to the storage method (changing from storing the information through storing charge to storing information through the mechanical state) it will take careful planning and a step-by-step proofing of the technology before it will find general acceptance. In terms of limitations, there are currently no known limitations with respect to the application of the Nanomech technology. It is undergoing highest level automotive qualification and has so far (after 90% of the test) shown any failures.
MIJ: Is your system used in high of volume products today?
Beunder: No, it is not yet out in high-volume products as it is new to the market. We have released a first product, an electrical programmable fuse (eFuse) based on Nanomech, and have placed it with selective customers and expect that within a year the first applications will be out in the market with our technology embedded in it.
MIJ: Who are your main competitors and what is the key competitive advantage for Cavendish Kinetics?
Beunder: The main competition is of course coming from the existing non-volatile technologies. These are used for embedded EEPROM and Flash. Although the conventional technologies have run into limitations (high voltage programming, long integration and qualification times, etc.) existing users will continue to try to get the most mileage out of the existing technology due to earlier investments. Research has focused on other technologies such as MRAM or Ovonics technology but those have shown to be not ready for embedding. FeRAM is available for embedding but requires major investment in new equipment and materials and cannot be run in the standard CMOS fabs due to contamination problems.
MIJ: What are the top 3 trends right now in the memory business? What applications and technologies do you see emerging over the next 1-2 years?
Beunder: The top 3 trend in the embedded non-volatile memory business are extending operating temperature range (automotive applications), porting to advanced process nodes (to 0.18um and below, for high-complexity applications such as 32-bit microcontrollers and DSPs), and reducing power, both active and in-active power consumption (contactless smartcards, RFID, medical implant applications). I have with the challenges indicated which are the main drivers/markets for these challenges. If you look at the main growth markets for the coming four years (e.g. check IC Insights) and you will find most of these applications in the top five.
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