The aim of the EXCALYB project is to develop the processes, material stacks and CMOS integration for new types of high density, highly scalable non-volatile memories. This will allow for high density (feature size <20nm corresponding to 1 Tbit/in²) with high data rates, as well as a very significant reduction of power consumption of electronic circuits in standby mode. EXCALYB project aims to establish an innovative sub-20nm technology platform to be used in the evaluation of magnetic tunnel junction based spintronic devices at nanoscale dimensions. The developed process flow will not be specific only to MRAM cells, and could be used to evaluate any device based on magnetic tunnel junctions, such as spin-torque oscillators, magnetic field sensors and generally any electrically connected pillar device having magnetic materials. A successful integration will provide an alternative approach for the evaluation of integrated hybrid circuits, using CMOS and magnetic elements. This low-cost platform unique in France is complementary with ongoing efforts to create 200/300mm magnetic backend lines. The proposed alternative significantly reduces the costs associated with evaluating circuit designs that include magnetic tunnel junctions. The cost reduction comes from the fact that the 3 to 4 backend mask levels are not required each time a new design needs to be evaluated. Mask reticles for 200/300mm magnetic backend process can account for significant initial costs, becoming the major roadblock to use emergent technology used in new applications. The EXCALYB project aims to provide the technology missing for these applications, requiring the availability of high performance non-volatile memory with associated non-volatility for very low-power consumption. The project will allow demonstrate these devices and explore their scalability in future generations, by reducing the cell size for extreme integration low power operation. EXCALYB will leverage the existing knowledge of each partner to achieve a significant scientific and technological breakthrough. Magnetic memory cell concept breakthroughs pursued in this project could be used directly in novel MRAM memory implementations by Crocus Technology. The explored concepts provide a clear technology roadmap for MRAM below 20nm cell sizes. This will allow strengthening the intellectual property and know-how enabling the deposition of devices with important industrial applications. It will strengthen the position of Crocus Technology as a French/European contender in the high performance non-volatile arena. The research involves in particular bringing to maturity a perpendicular MTJ stack for sub-20 dimensions using thermal assistance for the spin torque writing process. Our own initial results have shown the world best figure of merit between thermal stability and writing current. There is considerable improvement to expect from the first demonstration, especially in terms of TMR amplitude, leading to even higher values of thermal stability to STT switching current ratio. Establishing a process flow to sub-20nm dimensions will allow experimental validation of the expected scalability. It will be a significant breakthrough to validate ultimate density perpendicular cells, in both standalone cells and in integrated hybrid circuits. The concept of hybrid non-volatile circuits is extremely appealing due to the stand-by power savings that it can achieve. The in-plane self-reference cells represent a low-density high value application for embedded high temperature applications MRAM that could quickly find market acceptance. The project will test the scalability of current cells, and provide the material research necessary to scale these cells down to 45nm, corresponding to 3 additional technology generations from the current 130nm cell size.