SBIR-STTR Award

A need exists for a reliable, low cost radiation-hardened digital memory in aerospace and defense applications and in long-life, high-speed memory for terrestrial and commercial applications. Present offerings can accomplish the objective, but only at the expense of performance, power, size, and weight with device redundancy and shielding. Recent focus on Graphene and its capabilities has inspired a flurry of research and exploration. Graphene is maturing quickly from its discovery and has exhibited a number of best of breed characteristics including conductivity, stability, and as a Hall Effect sensor material. It is generally agreed that Graphene is potentially the best material for many integrated circuit components; however the evolution of compatible process and large area, defect-free layers of the material has been elusive to this point. Our goal to incorporate Graphene as a critical element of a radiation hardened memory device will be done with a demand on par with present capabilities and will only strengthen as the underlying manufacturing of Graphene matures into modern devices. Further, we propose to research a method to bridge the gap between present laboratory-based Graphene coating efforts and the needs of the commercial market with a unique monolayer deposition method using unique monolayer deposition method using equipment and process which APS has been developing for VersuFLEX Technologies LLC.

Benefit:
This technology has immediate application in critical aviation electronics applications. It also poses a much needed improvement in lifetime for solid state drives in the commercial market.

Keywords:
Graphene Memory, Non-Volatile Memory, Radiation-Hardened

The Department of Defense requires a reliable non-volatile radiation hardened memory for Space and Airborne platform applications. MGRAM, a form of graphene and magnetic memory, promises to satisfy these requirements and to provide a solution path to achieving low cost, high reliability solid state drives for personal computers and systems. MGRAM is based upon a nano scaled bar magnet which is oriented normal to the plane and state bit is defined by the orientation of the magnetic charge. The charge state can be set to a 0-1-2 by directly addressing the bit. Memory state sense is performed by a non-destructive means of sensing the field using a graphene Hall device located at one end of the magnetic bit. Magnetic storage has been proven in space applications, and offers distinct advantages in temperature, longevity, and density. Being a true non-volatile memory MGRAM does not require a refresh or maintenance cycle. MGRAM is able to hold state value during read cycles, increasing overall speed and reducing power. This effort will result in a design for manufacturing process of the memory cell elements, fabrication of test cells, and electrical characterization of completed modules which promise to scale beyond the 16nm technology node.

Benefit:
Initial applications of this technology will be in satellites and space vehicles. Following space applications will be critical systems in commercial aircraft and other life safety systems. Entrance into the personal computing space is targeted as a true solid state drive solution, providing the integrity required for long term data storage with the speed and performance of random access memory.

Keywords:
Non Volatile Memory, Magnetic, Graphene Hall Device, Bit State, Radiation Hardened, Non-Destructive Read, Low Power, Random Access Memory