Startup Claims Ferroelectric SRAM Breakthrough to Solve Memory Density Crunch

Kepler says it has improved SRAM density using ferroelectrics, which read and write data at lower voltages than typical semiconductor mechanisms. The startup developed a new low-voltage composite material for this ferroelectric approach.

Sasi Manipatruni, cofounder and CTO, says the team went through 35 iterations of composites before landing on a material class that makes memory chips easier and cheaper to produce.

“Once we found a way to solve the physics problem—as in the physical limitations for HBM—we came up with a material innovation that helps with the amount of memory you can have between chips,” he says.

In early build-outs with GlobalFoundries, Kepler says it converted a fab into a “next-generation” fab in eight months, compared to a typical 24-month timeframe.

“Our goal is to take the fabs and architectures already built, and push them to the limits of physics,” Olaosebikan says.

Kepler is betting that additional costs from new materials or retooling existing fabs would be far outweighed by the $20 billion to $40 billion it costs to build new ones and outfit them with equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Scaling Challenges Ahead

Kepler still has a long road before full-scale production. To date, the company has tested its technology on around 2,000 wafers. It plans to ship first HBM samples later this year, ramp up production in Singapore next year, and start US chip production in 2028.

Kaste, the GlobalFoundries executive, says he’s confident that “fundamental breakthroughs have happened. What remains is getting good results on thousands of wafers and millions of devices.”

He notes one challenge with Kepler’s material system is that it includes iron in its composite. “Iron is a tough contaminant to introduce into a production facility. So Kepler’s solution has to run on dedicated equipment, or be fully encapsulated so that it can’t escape,” he says.

“The art is in keeping that material really well isolated through our production flow,” Kaste says.

Automated wafer-handling equipment used by Kepler in its dedicated test fab.

Photograph: Courtesy of Kepler Computing

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