ECE 507 Seminar (Winter 2015)
2.00–3.15pm Friday, February 6th, Room EB-103
Advances in Nonvolatile Memory Technologies.
Santosh K. Kurinec (IEEE Fellow)
Electrical & Microelectronic Engineering
Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester
Abstract
At no time in the history of semiconductor industry has the memory technology
assumed such a pivotal position. The last decade has seen a remarkable shift in
usage and value of semiconductor memory technologies. These changes are driven
by the elevation of four particular target applications – (1) mobile multi-media
applications, (2) explosive growth in the sheer volume of data that is being created
and stored, (3) emphasis from the individual components to the configurability in
high-volume subsystems and (4) applications in brain inspired artificial
intelligence systems.
Memory technologies can be split into two categories, volatile and nonvolatile; Volatile memory will not retain data when power is turned off, conversely
non-volatile memory will retain data once power is turned off. The dominating
memory technologies in the industry today are SRAM, DRAM (volatile) and
NAND flash (non-volatile). Storage class memory (SCM) describes a device
category that combines the benefits of solid-state memory with the archival
capabilities and low cost per bit of conventional hard disk magnetic storage.
In the past decade significant focus has been put on the emerging memories
field to find a possible as real contenders to displace either or both NAND flash &
DRAM. Some of these newer emerging technologies include: MRAM (Magnetic
RAM), STTRAM (Spin-Transfer Torque RAM), FeRAM (Ferroelectric RAM),
PCRAM (Phase Change RAM), RRAM (Resistive RAM) and Memristor. RRAM
s and PCRAM both are considered to be types of memrister technologies - a
passive two-terminal electronic device that is designed to express only the property
of an electronic component that lets it recall the last resistance it had before being
shut off (“memristance”).
The traditional von Neumann architecture operates sequentially on data
fetched from memory. In contrast, "neuromorphic" computing distributes both
computation and memory among an enormous number of relatively primitive
"neurons," each communicating with thousands of other neurons through
"synapses." The human brain is the world's most sophisticated computer, capable
of learning new things using very little data. It can recognize objects, understand
speech, and respond to change. Nanoscale resistive switching devices are regarded
as a promising solution for implementation of biological synapses, capacity to
store multiple bits and the low energy required to operate distinct states.
The talk will provide an overview of advances made in various memory
technologies with their future trends.
Biography
Santosh K. Kurinec (Santosh.kurinec@rit.edu) is a
Professor of Electrical & Microelectronic Engineering at
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). She served as
the Department Head of Microelectronic Engineering
from 2001-2009 before joining IBM Watson Research
Center for an years of academic sabbatical. She received
Ph.D degree in Physics from University of Delhi, India
and worked as Scientist at National Physical Laboratory,
New Delhi from 1980-85. She worked as a postdoctoral
research associate at the Department of Materials Science
and Engineering at University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
from 1985-1986 where she researched on thin metal film
composites. Prior to joining RIT in 1988, she was
Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at Florida
State University/Florida A & M University College of Engineering in Tallahassee,
FL. She received the RIT Trustee Scholarship Award in 2008 and was honored as
the Engineer with Distinction by the Rochester Engineering Society in 2013. She
has been actively engaged in outreach for promoting engineering education. She is
a Fellow of IEEE, Member APS, The New York Academy of Sciences, and an
IEEE EDS Distinguished Lecturer. She received the 2012 IEEE Technical Field
Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching. Her current research activities
include nonvolatile memory, photovoltaics, advanced integrated circuit materials
and processes. She has over 100 publications in research journals and conference
proceedings.
All welcome