Macronix International Company (MXIC) announced on November 29 that its co-developed phase change memory (PCM) with IBM and Qimonda has proven to be applicable in sub-20nm geometries, indicating that the present physical barriers of NOR flash production on 65nm can be overcome.
Macronix noted that Intel has met certain physical bottleneck when shrinking the process node of NOR flash production to 65nm node and production has proven to be non-economical.
Macronix said its co-developed PCM technology now enables the development of a so-called "universal memory" that goes down to 20nm.
In related news, Macronix also announced the development of BE-SONOS technology, a new technology for NAND flash production. Although Macronix indicated that it has no plans to tap into the NAND flash market, it noted that BE-SONOS enables the company to be prepared for any move in the future, while the technology will also bring in patent income.
Article translated by Esther Lam and edited by Michael McManus
