Samsung Semiconductor Corp says it hasn’t yet decided whether to build commercial quantities of ferroelectric random-access memory (FeRAM) chips, claiming the technology is still too expensive and products too niche. Other licensees of the technology, invented by Ramtron International Corp, including Matsushita Electric Industrial Co and Fujitsu Ltd are set to begin volume production by the end of the year (CI No 3,362). FeRAM can be used to produce large-scale integrated circuits which retain their state when the power is off and are thought to be ideal for electronic cash applications, integrated circuit cards and non- contact cards because they are near infinitely rewritable and use low amounts of power. Samsung says volume quantities of its 256Mbit memory chips won’t begin until new 12 wafer production starts at the end of 1999 or early 2000. Sample quantities are currently built from 8 wafers. Volume deliveries of 128Mbit parts will begin at the end of the second quarter.
