(NAPSA)—As computer chip makers require more and more robust memoryfor cell phones and other mobile devices, they are winnowing the field of technologies that are contending to help them out. And Ovonyx’s phase-change memory may be emerging as one of the leaders. The Ovonic Unified Memory (OUM) invented by Energy Conversion Devices (ECD Ovonics) is being commercialized by Ovonyx, Inc.—which grew out of a joint venture between ECD Ovonics and Tyler Lowrey, former chief technology officer for Micron Technology Inc., Intel Capital, and certain investors. ECD Ovonics owns 41.7% of Ovonyx (31.4% on a fully diluted basis after giving effect to the exercise of stock options and warrants). Now, OUM is into a commercialization stage in a number of ways, including a contract with BAE Systems, a joint development program with STMicro- electronics (ST), and a joint development program with Intel Corp. OUMisone of the most advanced applicationsof the science of disordered materials that was invented and pioneered by ECD Ovonicscofounder Stanford R. Ovshinsky. Whereas conventional silicon memory relies on the conductive properties of silicon due to the inherent order of its crystals, OUM uses a layer of an alloy called chalcogenide formed on regular silicon chips that can change from a disordered or amorphous state to a crystalline state with a highly ordered atomic structure. Such phase changes brought about by bursts of electric current can be used to generate the “1s” or “Os” needed for digital products. The technology is also versatile enough to display not only fully amorphous and fully crystalline states, but also intermediate states that someday may be used to make multistate memories.
