Micron, Western Digital Will Use Chips & Science Money for Memory R&D, New Fabs
Now that the Chips and Science Act has been passed, companies that receive subsidies for chip development and production in the United States can start proposing plans for expansion. For example, his two leading manufacturers of DRAM and NAND memory, Micron and Western Digital, have proposed launching a memory research and development coalition in the United States to produce innovative types of memory domestically.
Return memory development and production to the United States
Although the United States produces only about 12% of the world’s semiconductor output, companies such as Intel, GlobalFoundries, and Samsung Foundry produce relatively advanced chips domestically. Many of them are unique and therefore used all over the world. However, when it comes to computer memory production, the United States lags far behind South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, largely due to North America’s higher manufacturing and labor costs. It’s a little strange that many innovative memory technologies and manufacturing processes are developed in the US or US and Japan. With funding provided by the Chips and Science Act, Micron and Western Digital hope to rectify this mistake.
“To ensure U.S. leadership in the critical area of semiconductor memory and storage technologies, NSTC has developed a long-term (5+ year) vision and roadmap to enable the next generation of these technologies, We need to be clear.” Here is the statement between the two companies:
One of the public-private organizations that will be set up with the help of Chips and Science funding and stakeholder investment is industry, government, national laboratories and, according to academia, advanced semiconductor research and prototyping. Semiconductor Industry Association (opens in new tab)For example, Micron and Western Digital have Memory Coalition of Excellence (MCOE) (opens in new tab)will become part of NSTC and focus entirely on new memory technologies. In addition, both companies will receive grants to build new manufacturing capacity in the United States.
A statement from Micron and Western Digital said, “The Memory Coalition of Excellence (MCOE) supports this transformative era and the new innovations needed.” A focused effort across industry, academia, and government with clearly defined objectives related to overcoming the must work with.”
We need a new type of memory, let’s work together
Avid readers of Tom’s Hardware will point out that 3D NAND and DRAM are commodities that are volatile in price and have a large impact on a manufacturer’s profitability. It hardly belongs there. Additionally, both Micron and Western Digital are already doing DRAM and 3D NAND R&D in Japan, so his MCOE in the US may seem excessive. However, there are some factors to consider.
First, what Micron and Western Digital are calling Domain Specific Architecture (DSA), the next generation of computing devices will require an entirely new type of memory. In particular, two memory manufacturers refer to general-purpose computing architectures that use different types of memory, accelerator-friendly designs that use high-speed memory, and memory-centric architectures that tightly couple computing (logic) and memory. increase. Traditional architectures continue to use 3D NAND, DRAM, HBM, etc., but new architectures require new types of memory that offer across-the-board benefits in various device metrics such as performance, power, and area. is needed. Features, cost, and complexity, according to the company.
Second, these new types of memory do not currently exist. That means companies like Micron and Western Digital will have to invest in foundational memory research to finally design them. For example, Western Digital has invested in ReRAM, a Perspective Storage Class Memory (SCM) type, for years without success. Micron, on the other hand, has not fully commercialized 3D XPoint, which it co-developed with Intel. The industry has identified several promising technologies for SCM applications (PCM, MRAM, FeRAM, etc.), but none of these technologies are widespread. That said, in order to share the cost and speed up time to market, it would be unthinkable for an R&D consortium/coalition to work with academia to develop the underlying technology behind a revolutionary type of memory. Makes a lot of sense.
Third, in many cases, innovative types of memory will require entirely new materials, new device structures, fabrication techniques, and a few other things that require large investments in basic research. increase. Again, coalitions between commercial companies and academia generally represent a more comprehensive approach to basic science than in-house R&D operations. For example, IBM and SUNY Poly are jointly researching and developing next-generation semiconductors.
Fourth, 2.5D and 3D packaging technologies will gain importance in the future, as bringing memory closer to computing logic is a significant challenge. Developing them jointly is beneficial to everyone.
Finally, there are fundamental challenges in developing and manufacturing chips using state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques. Therefore, it is imperative that Micron and Western Digital jointly develop simulation (TCAD) and electronic design automation (EDA) tools to accelerate the development of next-generation solutions based on new materials, structures and designs. claim. Additionally, it is imperative to accelerate the growth of innovative manufacturing equipment technologies such as EUV mask and wafer patterning solutions, and improve the productivity of EUV tools and new metrology and materials analysis/characterization tools.
Micron and Western Digital expect MCOE to focus on the following activities:
- Advanced “pre-competitive” research and development in materials, manufacturing and analytical techniques.
- Memory technologies for memory-centric computing (including in-memory computing, near-memory computing, and analog computing).
- Revolutionary 3D memory technology.
- Advanced packaging and stack memory solutions.
- Heterogeneous integration (functional and/or physical) at wafer and chip level.
- Advanced CMOS and integrated X-point array for new concept proofs.
- Modeling methodologies and tools for rapid development and joint optimization of complex technologies and systems.
In general, companies like Micron and Western Digital can come up with their own types of memory for specific applications (or DSA as they say), but along with other American companies the basic We want to enable R&D and production. Therefore, the success of the NSTC and MCOE organizations will improve the competitiveness of their participants, which in turn will improve the overall US semiconductor industry.
Cutting-edge memory fabs come to the US
Discovering innovative materials and developing advanced memory technology in the United States is one thing. But bringing memory production to the United States is another.Tuesday, Micron announced (opens in new tab) plans to invest $40 billion in leading-edge memory manufacturing operations in the United States by the end of 2010.
“This legislation will allow Micron to increase domestic memory production from less than 2% of the global market to up to 10% over the next decade, making the United States home to some of the most advanced memory manufacturing and research and development in the world. “
Micron hasn’t specified what types of memory it plans to produce in the US (3D NAND, DRAM, SCM, etc.), but we can speculate that the company will try to make premium types of memory in the US.
On the other hand, in the next 7 or 8 years, a $40 billion investment in a fab could produce virtually any type of memory, or two medium EUV and high NA EUV capable fabrication facilities. Micron may be able to buy one of the fabs (I’m guessing). Either way, Micron looks forward to bringing its cutting-edge process technology to the US to manufacture advanced and expensive memory devices.
Manufacturers in South Korea, Japan, and Singapore are now using state-of-the-art memory manufacturing processes. Micron plans to reverse this trend.
