Highlighting challenges around memory commercialisation

Recent research from a University of Adelaide academic has outlined the gap between scientific reality and whether a promising technology reaches commercial production.

Adjunct Lecturer Dr Dominic Lane, School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, has been exploring the world of ULTRARAM, a widely promoted III–V semiconductor memory concept claimed to combine the speed of DRAM with the retention of flash.

He has published his findings in the Journal of Applied Physics.

"While the underlying physics of ULTRARAM is elegant, its path to commercial viability remains obstructed by fundamental materials and engineering barriers," says Dr Lane.

"These barriers include interface defects, charge-trapping instabilities, and poor scalability which will continue to prevent the technology from reaching large-scale manufacturability.

ULTRARAM technology utilises quantum mechanical effects, such as resonant tunnelling, to enable a barrier to switch from opaque to transparent with minimal energy input.

The combination of speed, energy efficiency, endurance, and non-volatility makes it an attractive option for a wide range of digital electronics, like personal computers and large data centres.

"ULTRARAM has been presented as a revolutionary memory breakthrough," says Dr Lane.

"During my time at Lancaster University where ULTRARAM was initially developed, I co-invented and fabricated the first ULTRARAM devices on silicon substrates but the disconnect between the science and viability in scaling it up has proven to be difficult.

"Without a clear path to high-yield growth of defect-free III–V stacks on standard 300 mm silicon wafers, ULTRARAM’s route to system-level integration remains uncertain.

"There needs to be transparent, data-driven discussion before bold commercial claims are made, and more focus should be placed on III–V interface engineering and materials integration as prerequisites for any viable next-generation memory technology."