Memory Markets

Application End-Market
The initial primary end-market for CMOx™ Cross-point Memory is high density data storage. A discussion of semiconductor memory technology always has to start with the customer.

	Cache Memory	System Memory	Boot Code Storage	Code Storage	High Density Data Storage	Archival Data Storage
Ancient History	SRAM	SRAM DRAM	ROM	EPROM EEPROM	HDD Tape	Tape
1990s	SRAM	DRAM	NOR HDD	NOR	HDD	Tape
Today	SRAM	DRAM	NOR NAND	NAND	HDD NAND	HDD Tape
Tomorrow	SRAM DRAM MRAM/STRAM	DRAM MRAM/STRAM	NAND CMOx™ Phase Change	NAND CMOx™	NAND CMOx™	HDD

System Solutions Dominate
As the chart below demonstrates, its not necessarily the optimal data sheet that has prevailed in the market. Price dominates the consideration of which semiconductor memory to put into the bill of materials. Therefore profitability is driven by being a low cost provider. In high volume manufacturing, cell size (how many terabytes are on a wafer) is the key metric. In order to compensate for the technology sacrifices required to get to smallest cell size, the market has developed system solutions that deal with reliability, endurance and other tradeoffs.

	SRAM (100F2)	DRAM (6F2)
Retention	Retention: Infinite	milliseconds System: Refresh!
	NOR MLC(4.5F2)	NAND MLC (2.25F2)
Bad Bits	None	Many System: ECC!

System architectures will change to accommodate the shortcomings of a new memory technology…as long as the cell size is smaller.

Value Added Markets
Even within these enormous price sensitive markets, there are applications where value added solutions receive a premium (e.g. graphic DRAM as compared to PC DRAM). The below chart describes the performance value propositions that have traction in non-volatile memories and the levers available to semiconductor manufacturers in addressing the price requirements of commodity markets.