Matrix Semiconductor unveils methods for building ultradense 3-D semiconductors

DECEMBER 4--Matrix Semiconductor Inc. (Santa Clara, CA; www.matrixsemi.com) is building semiconductor products in three dimensions, which makes the best use of a semiconductor wafer's area and achieves up to a tenfold cost reduction compared with existing technologies. By building "up" as well as "out," there is an increase in the number of bits per silicon wafer and design chips for high-volume production at the lowest cost. The company and its technical team have been granted two US patents covering the inventions around 3-D semiconductor design and production and have filed more than 60 additional applications.

The first product based on Matrix's technology will be MatrixTM 3-D Memory--semiconductor memory developed for use as a "consumable," much like traditional camera film or audio tape. The initial markets for this first product will include archival storage for portable electronic devices such as digital cameras, digital audio players, portable games, PDAs, cell phones, and others.

The technology also demonstrates great promise as a medium for prerecorded content, such as music, electronic books, games, digital maps, and reference guides. Matrix 3-D Memory will be archival memory designed to store information securely for many decades. Memory cards based on Matrix 3-D Memory will be write-once, available in standard flash card form factors, and interchangeable with standard flash cards.