Enterprising Australian Ramtron International Corp, the company that has developed a three-dimensional semiconductor technology to create non-volatile memory chips, has begun construction of its first wafer fabrication facility, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Up to now the company has been making use of a facility at the University of Colorado. According to Electronic News, the company’s technology involves the laying of thin films of a Lead-Zirconate-Titanate ceramic on a CMOS substrate to build up the three-dimensional circuits. ITT Corp has taken a licence to the design and will reportedly fabricate chips in Europe using it, as well as transferring the fabrication technology back to Ramtron in Colorado Springs once the new front-end is complete. The new facility will process six inch wafers using 0.8 micron design rules.
