Taming Novel NVM Non-Determinism


New memory technologies may have non-deterministic characteristics that add calibration to the test burden — and may require recalibration during their lifetime. Many of these memories are in development as a result of the search for a storage-class memory (SCM) technology that can bridge the gap between larger, slower memories like flash and faster DRAM memory. There are several approache... » read more

The Benefits Of Antifuse OTP


One-time programmable (OTP) memory is a type of non-volatile memory (NVM) that commonly comprises of electrical fuse (eFuse) and antifuse. The advantages of OTP memory over multi-time programmable (MTP) memory, such as EEPROM or flash memory, are smaller area and no additional wafer processing steps. Therefore, for many low-cost applications, the OTP memory is used to replace the MTP memory. ... » read more

The Growing Need For OTP


Historically, when someone from our industry uses the acronym OTP, or one-time programmable, they think of eFuse, invented by IBM in 2004.  Using electromigration, IBM was able to program a fuse without damaging other parts of the chip. In this way, fuses could dynamically alter the configuration of a chip after it was manufactured. Applications range from analog trimming and calibration to re... » read more