Realising smart systems for the future

If we are to realise a future of autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence-enhanced smart systems and applications related to the Internet of Things, we will need access to high-performance memory devices.

In a S$120 million (US$88 million) tie-up with semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries Singapore, NTU will advance the next generation of nonvolatile memory technology. Supported by Singapore’s Industry Alignment Fund-Industry Collaboration Projects scheme, the NTU-GF Singapore Research Partnership—one of Singapore’s largest corporate research partnerships with academia to date—leverages GlobalFoundries Singapore’s advanced silicon transistor technology.

As part of the collaboration, NTU’s Prof Lew Wen Siang will lead a joint project with GlobalFoundries called “Advanced ReRAM technology for embedded systems”. The project aims to establish a new class of mainstream non-volatile memory technology called resistive switching random-access memory (ReRAM). Commonly used in on-chip microcontrollers and embedded systems, ReRAM offers many advantages over conventional memory technology, including increased durability, higher speed and lower power consumption.

The article appeared first in NTU’s research & innovation magazine Pushing Frontiers (issue #16, February 2020).