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Intel Previews Potential Replacement for Flash Memory
GeeksAreSexy writes "Eweek has an article up about the invention of a new kind of nonvolatile memory technology that could one day replace traditional flash memory. Unlike traditional flash memory, chips using this new technology will be able to execute code with performance, and sustain millions of read/write cycles without dying." From the article: "This is a case in which 'Necessity is the mother of invention' is very true. We were forced to look for something else, completely different. That's why we decided to invest in PCM ... There are definitely limits to what you can do with our current flash methodology. There needs to be a complete quantum leap somewhere along the line to push everything forward. We believe PCM are going to be that quantum leap."
... and here I tought naively we could kiss goodbye to Macrobe Flash.
The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up.
So is this better or worse than that other "flash replacement" memory we heard about on /. the other week? You know, the one that's supposedly got the best parts of DRAM, hard disks and flash all in one?
Hardly news then, right?
Meta will eat itself
You realise that CPUs user the same material as most beaches, but they still manage to give them many more FLOPS than your average beach. It is almost as if it is more important the way the material is used - nah, that can't be true. If one product is made out the same material as another product, then it must be exactly the same!!!
...they'd end up on Enterprise.
These stories are free but worth money.
Well, maybe not, but wouldn't you pay money to see Intel's CEO in his dark suit appear in a commercial singing, "Flash!...Ahhhhahhhhh....", with the surviving members of Queen backing him up?
Not much money, I know. But a 6" Subway vegetarian worth, probably.
the more accurate the calculations became, the more the concepts tended to vanish into thin air. R. S. Mulliken
Ummmm.....No. Beach sand is mostly silicon dioxide, whereas computer chips are fabricated starting from wafers of very pure silicon.
Diamond (pure carbon) and carbon dioxide don't have similar properites either.
Sorry to get pedantic, but I'm a materials scientist, and it really pisses me off when people get these things mixed up. It is even worse when people confuse silicon (the base material for computer chips) with silicone (a polymer material used in caulking and breast implants).
--
The internet is the greatest source of biased information in the history of mankind.
but there's no fundamental technical difference as far as I can see
Except that one is changed with a laser and the other is done electrically?
The laser is probably more powerful than it needs to be because it needs to pass through a (relatively) dirty lens, several mm of air, and a layer of plastic before altering the material. in order to do this reliably, they overpower the laser so that it can achieve the effect. The tradeoff is that the excess power wears the material out faster.
Now the material is integrated into a chip and uses simple thermal conduction instead of radiation to achieve the effect. The distances are much smaller and the environment is much more controlled, which means that you do not need to overpower the devices. This results in reduced wear, which means a longer life.
As the GPP said...
"It is almost as if it is more important the way the material is used".
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
While the whole thing is a little more complicated. Ovshinsky was the first one to get patent on this area, and he opened a company named Ovonics. Then Ovonics created a company named Ovonyx with a cofounder of Micron. Ovonyx is focused on the Phase Change RAM while Ovonics keeps working on things like Fuel cell, Solar cell, batteries...
Gordon Moore of Intel was also one of the early researchers on the area of Phasse Change RAM. In 2000, Intel invested some big money into Ovonyx and get the license of Phase Change RAM from Ovonyx. Samsung licensed the Phase Change RAM from Ovonyx later.
There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
[snip] execute code with performance, and sustain millions of read/write cycles without dying.
Wow! That means that in the worst case, it will last SEVERAL seconds!!!
(Wouldn't it be better to have something like trillions of read/write cycles, so we know it will at least last a few years?)
I can see a day where this memory is used in place of DRAM and application files are permanently stored in memory even when the system is off.