Micron and A*STAR Data Storage Institute Renew Research Collaboration

SINGAPORE and BOISE, Idaho, December 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Micron Technology, Inc., and Singapore's A*STAR Data Storage Institute (DSI) today announced that they are extending their collaboration on the development of STT-MRAM, a promising alternative non-volatile memory technology, for another three years.

The two organisations first joined hands in 2011. The flagship collaboration has brought together researchers from Micron and A*STAR DSI to co-develop high density STT-MRAM devices.

With its capabilities and know-how in STT-MRAM, A*STAR DSI has played a significant role in helping Micron establish a technology centre in Singapore. As part of the initial cooperation, DSI also provided the necessary expertise and innovation to achieve successful fabrication of STT-MRAM devices.

Building on their previous successful collaboration, the renewal of the research collaboration will focus on developing low-power consumption switching mechanisms, and improving the performance of STT-MRAM devices.

With the rising interest in STT-MRAM across different industries, the extension of the collaboration will bring the technology closer to commercial maturity.  

Non-volatile memory is becoming more important in the semiconductor memory market, playing a critical role in enabling mobile storage applications and solid state drives. Low power consumption STT-MRAM technology has the potential to become a universal memory due to qualities such as high data retention and high speed to address the technology scaling roadmap challenges of volatile memory. It also has the ability to boost the performance of data centres and the cloud.

Dr Pantelis Alexopoulos, Executive Director of DSI, said, "Over the first three years of our collaboration, DSI has played a direct role in co-innovating with Micron and has proven its relevance as a key centre for the development of STT-MRAM The renewal of the contract is a testimony to the hard work and the quality of both of our teams. We are proud to be a partner of Micron on their path towards the development of STT-MRAM."

Dr Tan Geok Leng, Executive Director of A*STAR's Science and Engineering Research Council, said, "In addition to STT MRAM's emergence as a promising class of non-volatile memory, it has the potential to bring about a paradigm shift in computing architecture with significant performance improvement and energy savings when applied to data storage solutions. This flagship collaboration with Micron augurs well for Singapore's positioning to be a leader in advanced memory and data storage technologies."

Mr Terence Gan, Director (Electronics) of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), said, "This partnership between DSI and Micron will create new technologies and train talent in advanced storage technologies that will take our industry to new heights."

"We look forward to continuing our partnership with DSI on STT-MRAM technology and exploring new device concepts and new materials that have the potential to enable advanced memory solutions for Micron in the future," said Dr Scott DeBoer, Micron's vice president of research and development.

About the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) 

The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is Singapore's lead public sector agency that fosters world-class scientific research and talent to drive economic growth and transform Singapore into a vibrant knowledge-based and innovation driven economy.

In line with its mission-oriented mandate, A*STAR spearheads research and development in fields that are essential to growing Singapore's manufacturing sector and catalysing new growth industries. A*STAR supports these economic clusters by providing intellectual, human and industrial capital to its partners in industry.

A*STAR oversees 18 biomedical sciences and physical sciences and engineering research entities, located in Biopolis and Fusionopolis, as well as their vicinity. These two R&D hubs house a bustling and diverse community of local and international research scientists and engineers from A*STAR's research entities as well as a growing number of corporate laboratories.

For more information on A*STAR, please visit http://www.a-star.edu.sg.

About the Data Storage Institute (DSI) 

The Data Storage Institute (DSI) is a member of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). Established in 1992 as the Magnetics Technology Centre (MTC), it was renamed Data Storage Institute in 1996. The research institute's vision is to be a vital node in a global community of knowledge generation and innovation, nurturing research talents and capabilities for world-class R&D in next generation storage technologies.

For more information about DSI, please visit http://www.dsi.a-star.edu.sg.

Micron Technology, Inc.

Micron Technology, Inc., is a global leader in advanced semiconductor systems. Micron's broad portfolio of high-performance memory technologies-including DRAM, NAND and NOR Flash-is the basis for solid state drives, modules, multichip packages and other system solutions. Backed by more than 35 years of technology leadership, Micron's memory solutions enable the world's most innovative computing, consumer, enterprise storage, networking, mobile, embedded and automotive applications. Micron's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ under the MU symbol. To learn more about Micron Technology, Inc., visit http://www.micron.com .

For media queries and clarifications, please contact:

For Agency for Science, Technology and Research:
Lydia Sum
Senior Officer, Corporate Communications
Agency for Science, Technology and Research
Tel: +65-6874-6852
Email: [email protected]

For Micron Technology:
Melinda Jenkins
Zeno Group for Micron Technology
Tel: +1-650-801-7957
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)