Bar-Ilan's on-chip memory tech ranks in top 3 ventures in Swiss contest
Currently, the amount of embedded memory on most chips would typically reach hundreds of megabits. This can often account for up to 75% of the total chip area.
By AARON REICHBar Ilan University, engineering department(photo credit: BAR ILAN UNIVERSITY/ WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)
An integrative on-chip memory technology made by Bar-Ilan University researchers was ranked among the top three most promising new start-up ventures in the leading competition in Switzerland.Integrated circuits (chips) are essential in technology. Whether its smartphones or entire data centers, chips are necessary in order to contain the required intelligence for performing tasks. However, the amount of memory on the chip beforehand, which is known as on-chip memory, dominates the cost.On-chip memory is, essentially, the memory that is on the physical chip. The amount of memory available determines its latency as well as the memory cache of the chip. If the on-chip memory is defective, the entire chip would need to be scrapped.This is especially problematic with the major growth drivers in the hi-tech field, such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and 5G networks, which all require ever-increasing amounts of on-chip memory.Currently, the amount of embedded memory on most chips would typically reach hundreds of megabits. This can often account for up to 75% of the total chip area.However, the new technology is able to provide a 50% smaller memory footprint when compared to higher density solutions that are commercially available. Further, this is done at no additional steps or cost.It was was developed by Prof. Adam Teman and Prof. Alexander Fish, from the Alexander Kofkin Faculty of Engineering at Bar-Ilan University, in close cooperation with Dr. Robert Giterman and Prof. Andreas Burg, of the EPFL University in Switzerland. Due to how promising this innovation is, the chip solution was ranked in the top three of nearly 330 start-ups in the >>venture>> program, Switzerland's leading competition for new entrepreneurs and start-ups.The researchers have patented their technology multiple times, with eight granted and three pending. It has been documented in over 200 peer-reviewed articles and submissions in various books, academic journals and conferences.AdvertisementThe technology is currently being commercialized into a company known as RAAAM, which itself is the result of a decade's worth of research on embedded memories.
