Mainstream memory technologies in deep submicron

Ideal characteristics of any universal memory technology should be to meet the performance of a SRAM, density as in DRAM and nonvolatility (like Flash). Flash memories have been dominant in the nonvolatile race based on relatively standard silicon design processes. Memory dominance on SoCs continues to increase and hence tomorrow´s high-quality SoCs require high quality memory today. The emerging mainstream memory technology should be (1) a universal memory, (2) a process solution, and (3) suitable for the SoC market. This paper will discuss a few emerging memory technologies that are being researched today by Natarajan (2003).