IBM demonstrated 11nm STT-MRAM junction, says "time for STT-MRAM is now"

IBM researchers, in collaboration with Samsung researchers, demonstrated switching MRAM cells for devices with diameters ranging from 50 down to 11 nanometers in only 10 nanoseconds, using only 7.5 microamperes. The researchers say that this is a significant achievement on the way to high-density low-power STT-MRAM.

Using perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), the researchers can deliver good STT-MRAM performance down to 7×10^-10 write-error-rate with 10 nanosecond pulses using switching currents of only 7.5 microampere.

IBM is quite excited about this new achievement, and the company says that the “time for Spin Torque MRAM is now”. 

This coincides with the fact that twenty years ago, IBM scientist John Slonczewski invented the STT-MRAM and published this in a now seminal paper “Current-driven excitation of magnetic multilayers” in the Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials. IBM will host a special STT-MRAM symposium on November 7.