Canadian embedded memory startup emerges

Mark LaPedus
(02/23/2005 3:30 PM EST)

  SAN JOSE, Calif. — Seeking to bring scalability in the embedded memory space, a new Canadian startup has emerged and said it will shortly ship its initial products — a set of DRAM-based cores for the 90-nm node.

The startup — Emerging Memory Technologies Inc. (EMT) — is a two-month-old, fabless design house that is developing intellectual-property (IP) cores and other products for the embedded DRAM and related memory space.

In the embedded memory market, EMT (Kanata, Ontario) will compete against such the likes of ARM, IBM, Monolithic System Technology (MoSys) and Virage Logic.

Unlike some of its competitors, the Canadian startup believes that its technology can keep up with Moore's Law and scale to the 65-nm node and beyond. "There is an opening for us," said Lluis Paris, EMT's new chief operating officer. "We see many opportunities for us."

Founded in December of 2004, EMT plans to offer a range of memory design services across different technologies, such as DRAM, SRAM, MRAM, SOI, among others.

EMT, which is a self-funded startup, was co-founded by Sreedhar Natarajan. Natarajan, the chief executive of EMT, has held executive posts at Paradigm, Texas Instruments, and MoSys. Prior to co-founding EMT, Paris was director of Techinsights at reverse engineering firm Semiconductor Insights.

By the end of this month, EMT will ship its first products — a line of DRAM-based "macrocells" or "memory blocks," based on 90-nm process technology, Paris said.

The company is also working on complier technology that works in conjunction with its IP memory cores. "We are also working on 65-nm technology," Paris told Silicon Strategies.

Initially, EMT will develop DRAM-based IP cores, based on a one-transistor, one-capacitor (1T1C) architecture. The first test chips, to be rolled out this month, will include 8- and 32-megabit parts.

It is also developing 256-Mbit and high-density designs, Paris said. Applications include hard disk drives, switches, and other products. "Our products are used for SoC designs," he added.