Intrinsic Semiconductor Technologies听has raised听拢1.35听million听seed funding听to prototype next-generation memory devices.听
The听round,听led by investors UCL Technology Fund and IP Group plc,听will enable Intrinsic to听partner听with听semiconductor research foundry听imec, based听in Belgium, to develop prototypes of its proprietary non-volatile memory devices.听
These听use听industry standard 鈥榗omplementary metal oxide semiconductor鈥� processing on 300mm silicon wafers.听
Memory performance is a limiting factor in nearly all current and emerging computing applications and Intrinsic听says its听technology will address this through superior performance while adhering to well–established and low-cost manufacturing techniques.听听
Non-volatile memory is used in a large and ever-increasing range of electronic products.听The permanent memory used in smartphones, laptops, USB sticks, cameras听and听SSD hard drives, it is听today听based on 鈥楩lash鈥櫶�technology.听
At the heart of听Intrinsic鈥檚听revolutionary technology is a 鈥榤emristor鈥�, also known as ReRAM or RRAM, invented by the company鈥檚 founders, Professor Tony Kenyon and Dr Adnan听Mehonic, eminent researchers in the field of nanoelectronics and materials science. Supported by commercialisation arm UCL 老九品茶, they spun out their research to create Intrinsic.听
鈥淓xisting memory technologies, such as Flash, are reaching the limits of their capabilities – particularly in embedded systems such as those we need in IoT devices,鈥� said听Tony Kenyon, co-founder of Intrinsic and Professor of听Nanoelectronic听& Nanophotonic Materials.听听
鈥�Intrinsic鈥檚听memristor technology will transform next generation systems by combining high performance with ease of integration in digital CMOS. By basing our devices on silicon oxide, we ensure that they are as simple and as cheap to integrate with silicon-based electronics as it is possible to be.”听
Mark Dickinson, CEO of Intrinsic, said:听鈥淭here is a huge potential market for new听memristive听technologies.听听
鈥�Having seen the potential for new memory technologies to disrupt the sector in my time in senior roles at ARM and Imagination, I am excited to be working with two of the most prominent researchers in the field to bring the best memristor technology to market.听听
鈥�This is an exciting invention from a leading UK university with the potential for truly global impact.鈥�听
Dr Adnan听Mehonic,听co-founder of Intrinsic and Assistant Professor at UCL鈥檚 Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, said:听鈥淭he overall performance of hardware we use for AI is determined and limited by the bandwidth and energy-efficiency of memory technologies.听听
鈥�A fast, energy-efficient, cheap and scalable non-volatile memory that can be incorporated directly on a chip, such as our silicon oxide memristors, will significantly improve the performance, especially for energy-efficient edge computing.听听
鈥�Furthermore, our technology could be utilised for analogue AI hardware accelerators currently in development and novel computing paradigms, such as neuromorphic and spiking-based computing.鈥�听