NP8P128A13TSM60E Micron Technology Inc, NP8P128A13TSM60E Datasheet - Page 6

• Manufacturer Part Number: NP8P128A13TSM60E
• Manufacturer: Micron Technology Inc

Specifications of NP8P128A13TSM60E

• Lead Free Status / RoHS Status: Supplier Unconfirmed

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Datasheet
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Product Description
Introduction
Numonyx® Omneo™ Phase Change Memory for embedded applications offers all of the
best attributes from other memory types in a new, highly scalable and flexible
technology.
Phase Change Memory (PCM) is a new type of nonvolatile semiconductor memory that
stores information through a reversible structural phase change in a chalcogenide
material. The material exhibits a change in material properties, both electrical and
optical, when changed from the amorphous (disordered) to the polycrystalline
(regularly ordered) state. In the case of Phase Change Memory, information is stored
via the change in resistance the chalcogenide material experiences upon undergoing a
phase change. The material also changes optical properties after experiencing a phase
change, a characteristic that has been successfully mastered for use in current
rewritable optical storage devices such as rewritable CDs and DVDs.
The PCM storage element consists of a thin film of chalcogenide contacted by a resistive
heating element. In PCM, the phase change is induced in the memory cell by highly
localized Joule heating caused by an induced current at the material junction. During a
write operation, a small volume of the chalcogenide material is made to change phase.
The phase change is a reversible process, and is modulated by the magnitude of
injected current, the applied voltage, and the duration of the heating pulse.
PCM combines the benefits of traditional floating gate flash, both NOR-type and NAND-
type, with some of the key attributes of RAM and EEpROM. Like NOR flash and RAM
technology, PCM offers fast random access times. Like NAND flash, PCM has the ability
to write moderately fast. And like RAM and EEpROM, PCM supports bit alterable writes
(overwrite). Unlike flash, no separate erase step is required to change information from
0 to 1 and 1 to 0. Unlike RAM, however, the technology is nonvolatile with data
retention comparable NOR flash. However, at the current time, PCM technology appears
to have a write cycling endurance better than that of NAND or NOR flash, but less than
that of RAM.
Unlike other proposed alternative memories, PCM technology uses a conventional
CMOS process with the addition of a few additional layers to form the memory storage
element. Overall, the basic memory manufacturing process used to make PCM is less
complex than that of NAND, NOR or DRAM.
Historically, systems have adopted many different types of memory to meet different
needs within a design. Some systems might include boot memory, configuration
memory, data storage memory, high speed execution memory, and dynamic working
memory. The demands of many of today’s designs require better performance from the
memory subsystem and a reduction in the overall component count. PCM provides
many of the attributes of different kinds of memory found in a typical design, enabling
the opportunity to consolidate or eliminate of different types of memory.
The combination of fast random access with high speed, bit alterable writes in a
nonvolatile memory is a capability only offered in complex, low density technologies
such as parallel EEpROM or battery-backed RAM. The PCM feature set is intended to
facilitate easy evaluation and adoption in systems and to enable the consolidation of
memory functions into a single device. In some cases, PCM may enable new usages or
new solutions to existing problems, in a manner that is more efficient, higher
performance and/or more cost effective.
Numonyx® Omneo™ P8P Datasheet
August 2010
316144-07