Axon Technologies Corp. Announces Infineon as New Licensee of Programmable Metallization Cell Nonvolatile Memory Technology

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 21, 2004 -- Axon Technologies Corp. announces that Infineon Technologies has licensed Axon's Programmable Metallization Cell (PMC) nonvolatile memory technology. Infineon follows Micron Technology Inc. as the second major memory manufacturer to obtain a nonexclusive license for the advanced memory and switching technology.

"The Infineon license comes after an extremely thorough evaluation that extended over two years," said Dr. Michael Kozicki, founder of Axon and inventor of the technology, "and we are very pleased with Infineon's final decision. We are happy to have participated in joint work with Infineon, the preliminary results of which were released at last year's Non-Volatile Memory Technology Symposium and are greatly encouraged by Infineon's recent public announcement that 'CBRAM' (conductive bridging RAM -- Infineon's designation for PMC-like memory) is one of the five technologies selected by Infineon for further development."

PMC, developed at Arizona State University, is intended to replace traditional charge-based memory cells. PMC's cell structure consists of a nanostructured solid electrolyte placed between two metal lines. Under easily controlled conditions, a conductive bridge is formed inside the glassy material, substantially reducing the resistance between the lines. The conductive bridge can be removed or re-created at DRAM or better speeds with excellent endurance characteristics. Since there is no stored charge in the cells, nonvolatile data retention exceeds the traditional 10-year limit associated with nonvolatile memory now in production using considerably lower programming voltage and current than incumbent technologies.

"Because of the DRAM-like sizes of the cells, we believe that the two most likely discrete memory applications for the technology are single chip replacements for the multiple memory chips in cell phones and also low-power memory in large memory arrays," said Kozicki. "While these high-volume applications are extremely exciting, we believe that the compatibility between this technology and CMOS logic processes also makes PMC an ideal nonvolatile embedded process."

Additional information on PMC will be presented at the upcoming Non-Volatile Memory Technology Symposium in November.

About Axon Technologies Corp.

Axon Technologies Corp. is a privately held company with headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz. Axon's nonvolatile memory technology is being licensed on a nonexclusive basis for both discrete memory and embedded memory applications. More information is available at www.axontc.com.