October 22, 2007 – Japan’s Elpida Memory Inc. and Taiwan foundry UMC have agreed to jointly develop a copper low-k backend process for both advanced DRAM and phase-change random access memory (PRAM).

Under the deal, UMC will license Elpida’s copper low-k technology for Elpida’s production, and UMC will be authorized to offer DRAM as part of its advanced system-on-chip solutions. The two also will cooperate on development of PRAM technology, combining Elpida’s expertise in GST materials (Ge, St, Te) with UMC’s expertise in high-performance CMOS logic.

The partnership “is a significant step forward for future memory development,” using copper low-k technology to help drive the production and process migration of high-performance DRAMs, said Elpida CTO Takao Adachi, in a statement. Meanwhile, the work also will accelerate the commercialization of PRAMs, “an important next-generation memory technology,” he said.