Ferroelectric RAM
electronic device using the ferroelectric effect to produce low density random access memory
Ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM, F-RAM or FRAM) is a random-access memory similar in construction to DRAM but using a ferroelectric layer instead of a dielectric layer to achieve non-volatility. FeRAM is an alternative non-volatile random-access memory technology that offers the same functionality as flash memory. An FeRAM chip contains a thin film of ferroelectric material, often lead zirconate titanate, commonly referred to as PZT. The atoms in the PZT layer change polarity in an electric field, thereby producing a power-efficient binary switch. However, the most important aspect of the PZT is that it is not affected by power disruption or magnetic interference, making FeRAM a reliable nonvolatile memory.
FeRAM's advantages over Flash include: lower power usage, faster write speeds and a much greater maximum read/write endurance (about 1010 to 1015 cycles). FeRAMs have data retention times of more than 10 years at +85 °C (and decades at lower temperatures). The primary disadvantages of FeRAM are much lower storage densities than flash devices, storage capacity limitations and higher cost. Like DRAM, FeRAM's read process is destructive, necessitating a write-after-read architecture.
History
Ferroelectric RAM was proposed by MIT graduate student Dudley Allen Buck in his master's thesis, Ferroelectrics for Digital Information Storage and Switching, published in 1952.
In 1955, Bell Telephone Laboratories was experimenting with ferroelectric-crystal memories.
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