- Crocus Technology
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Crocus Technology
Type Private Industry Semiconductors Founded 2004 Headquarters Grenoble, France
Sunnyvale, CaliforniaKey people Dr. Bertrand F. Cambou, (Chairman & CEO)
Douglas Lee, (VP System Strategy & Corporate Product Development)
Amitay Levi, (VP Tech. Development)
Barry Hoberman, (Chief Marketing Officer)
Wayne Godwin, (VP Worldwide Sales)
Jean-Luc Sentis, (VP Worldwide Operations)Products General purpose and specialty memory chips and technology Employees ~30 Website crocustechnology.com Crocus Technology, founded in 2004, is a venture-capital-backed semiconductor startup company developing next generation magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) technology. The company's products originated in a Grenoble-based Spintec laboratory. They company licenses its technology for both stand alone and embedded chip applications.
Contents
Company History
Crocus Technology was founded in Grenoble in 2004, to research MRAM at the Spintec laboratory.[1] The company eventually moved its headquarters to Sunnyvale, CA, but retained its engineering base in Grenoble.
Products and technologies
Crocus Technology is a supplier of semiconductor memory chips. The company is also a licensor licensor of MRAM process and design technology to fabless semiconductor companies, wafer foundries, and integrated device manufacturers (IDM’s). Target applications include storage, telecommunications, mobile devices, and networking.
Crocus introduced the application of Thermal Assisted Switching (TAS) to scalable MRAM technology. The technology addresses the problems of write selectivity, power consumption and thermal stability that other MRAM products face. TAS solves those problems mainly through temperature manipulation of the magnetic susceptibility in the memory cell. The company is working to merge TAS technology with advanced Spin Torque Transfer (STT) technology for use with advanced feature-size semiconductor processes.
Patents
In intellectual property, the company possesses approximately 30 patents supporting the product and technology portfolio. Crocus also has a long-term exclusive license to MRAM-related intellectual property developed at Spintec,[2] CNRS, and CEA.
Joint ventures
On June 22, 2011, Crocus announced a new technology called Magnetic-Logic Unit (MLU) architecture, built on their existing Thermal Assisted Switching (TAS) technology. This technology can be used to make ultra-secure functions such as smart cards, identity cards, SIM cards, and near-field communications (NFC) tamper-proof. The technology can operate at very high temperatures, making it useful in automotive and industrial electronics. MLU has the potential to replace a variety of other memory technologies such as SRAM, DRAM, NAND, NOR, and OTP.
On May 17, 2011, Crocus announced a joint venture with Rusnano, a Russian state-owned technology investment fund. The new venture, Crocus Nano Electronics (CNE) plans to invest US$125 million to build an advanced MRAM manufacturing plant in Russia.[3] Additional funding to a projected total of US$300 million will be used to expand capacity of the plant after it begins production.[4][5]
On June 18, 2009, Crocus Technology announced a partnership with Tower Semiconductor, Ltd., a leading global specialty foundry. As part of the deal, both companies will dedicate special equipment in Tower’s factory, and Tower will fully manufacture Crocus’ MRAM technology in its 200mm Fab2 facility. Tower has also taken a $1.25 million equity position in Crocus.
On October 6, 2011, Crocus Technology announced that it had signed an agreement with IBM to co-develop semiconductor technology in MRAM.[6]
Investors
Major investors include Rusnano, a Russian government-funded corporation that is aimed at commercializing developments in nanotechnology, and CEA Investissement, a company under the CEA that specializes in seed technology companies.
Other investors include Idinvest Partners,[7] CDC Innovation,[8] Entreprises et Patriomoine,[9] NanoDimension,[10] Sofinnova Partners, Sofinnova Ventures, and Ventech.
References
- ^ Mark LaPedus, EE Times. "Russia backs MRAM startup in $300M deal." May 17, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
- ^ "Spintec". EU Who's Who of Data Storage & Memory Technology. Wide Integrated Technologies Diffusion at University of Exeter. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
- ^ LaPedus, Mark and Peter Clarke. "Russia backs MRAM startup in $300M deal". EE Times. May 17, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
- ^ Bases, Daniel. "Russia secures new MRAM chip plant with investment". Reuters. May 16, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
- ^ Clark, Don. "Chip Start-Up Joins With Russia In Memory Deal". The Wall Street Journal. May 17, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
- ^ Peter Clarke, EDN. "Crocus signs IBM as MRAM partner." October 6, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
- ^ "Idinvest Partners". 2011. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
- ^ "CDC Innovation". 2011. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
- ^ “Entreprises et Patriomoine”. 2011. Retrieved Aug. 2, 2011.
- ^ "NanoDimension". 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
External links
Categories:- Fabless semiconductor companies
- Computer memory companies
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