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NEC Develops World's Fastest MRAM
Gary writes to tell us that NEC has developed a new SRAM compatible MRAM. The new memory module is capable of speeds up to 250MHz, the world's fastest to date. "MRAM are expected to generate new value and applications for future electronic devices thanks to their nonvolatility, unlimited write endurance, high speed operation, and ability to cut memory power dissipation in half. For example, these features could enable instant start up of PCs and prevent drive recorders from losing data after a sudden break in power in the future. As substitutes for system LSI-embedded SRAM, MRAM can provide even more value as they are expected to enable extremely low power dissipation of system LSIs because they can sleep when they are not in use and wake up instantly."
MRAM are expected to generate new value and applications for future electronic devices thanks to their nonvolatility
That is, assuming they're not manufactured by Sony.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Now we can throw a rootkit into memory and have it chill there forever!
For small sizes (32KiB), MRAM already has a wide use in Game Boy Advance cartridges as a replacement for battery backed RAM.
Thanks to negotiations with the RIAA and MPAA, this new memory will automatically detect any copyrighted material thanks to an ever-updating pattern file which is downloaded and stored directly into said memory. This benefit requires you to buy 3x more memory than you need so as to counter-act the space taken up by the "Copyright Pattern Advantage."
Belief? Hope? Preference?The Existential Vortex
"because they can sleep when they are not in use and wake up instantly."
Reminds me of my cat.
Now all they need now is faster WOM
Actually I did play with the serial MRAM's back when I was an embedded systems engineer, they were pretty cool. As I recall they didn't have the write cycle count issues that EEPROMs had and had way faster write cycle times.
They ARE out to get you simply because They are in it for themselves and they don't care about you.
... comparisons would be nicer.
How does the MRAM speed compare to typical SRAM speeds? And to typical DRAM speeds?
And what about the size, compared to SRAM and DRAM?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
I was unfamiliar with it, so I looked it up:
Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory - two magnetic plates separated by an insulator. One plate has is a permanent magnet, the other holds the temporary charge.
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
Cool, this sounds like the ticket to fast Solid State hard drives. I know there are some flash drives being produced, but the limited read/write cycle is what has kept me from trying one. I would most certainly like to have a drive where slew rate and rotational latency are non-existent.
"I bow to no man" - Riddick
I always wondered why more people didn't use battery-backed RAM with some slower, more persistent storage to dump it to when you lose power.
So really, the question is, which is cheaper: a gig of MRAM, or a gig of battery-backed RAM with a gig of flash or hard disk to dump to?
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
They've been promising us "instant-on" PCs forever. The technology is there now, but as Bruce Schneier indicates "... the current crop of major operating systems just don't" (from Freakonomics Q&A. I'll believe it when I see it. I'm from Missouri, so you'll have to Show-Me!
I hope MRAM catches on and sets the world on fire, becoming cheaper than flash.
It's just better all around, especially because there isn't limited write endurance like flash has, and because of the speed, and because it's easier to drive (than, say, flash).
"But AC! There is wear levelling! Flash write limits are no longer relevant!"
If you have gobs of flash, sure. Not so in embedded devices however. And in those cases MRAM can easily replace battery backed ram. YEIGH!
Could you put a flash memory in a PC with a wide data bus and use it to store the hiberate sys file instead of the disk, with say a 128 bit wide bus should be able transfer memory to flash in a few seconds.
I have some MRAM samples waiting to be tested in my drawer (4Mb chips from Freescale). They look good as replacement for flash chips rather that SRAM, because of better reliability and lower power consumption, however the technology is quite young and hasn't reached yet the packing density of flash, or the speed of SRAM. Lots of potential though.
I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet -Stanislaw Lem
OK, so they're fast. They're non-volatile. They're low power. They're immune to "wear". So where's the MRAM solid state drives?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
The linked article seems to be Slashdotted. http://www.nec.co.jp/press/en/0711/3001.html/ is NEC's own press release.
NEC's stock has been in the toilet for 5 years. Actually Going down by 50% while the rest of the market rose. They need a potentially huge marketable break through. But I wonder if phase change ram will eat it's lunch. It too is supposed to be fast and non volatile.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Nowhere does the article mention anything about cost. Anyone have an idea of the relative cost? With the magnetic plates for each bit, sounds like it might be expensive.
I feel sorry for people that don't drink, because when they get up in the morning, that's as good as they're gonna feel
And to syngerize stuff!
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
What fault-tolerance features does MRAM have? Is ECC built into the device?
Too bad the summary had to mention "instant-on PC" because most of the responses so far are about "No way" or "my kewl macbook does that already" and such. The biggest advantage of MRAM over SRAM/eDRAM is not that it retains data without power (though that's nice too), it's that MRAM about as fast as current eDRAM and half the power. And even zero power when not used (while retaining most recent data) is a bonus.
This is a huge plus for ASICs and other chips (ASSPs, COTS, etc.) that have a lot of memory on them (which is most of them.) It allows more memory on a chip without expensive packages/die sizes for thermal management or complex, time-consuming power management systems. LSI (large-scale integrated) circuits use a lot of memory, and power consumption is a huge problem, so cutting that in half will enable a lot of products to be made that wouldn't have been possible/affordable before, and a lot of other products will get to market faster.
MRAM has been around for a while, but the relatively slow speed made it unsuitable for most applications. Now it will be great enabling technology that will ripple through many products that use semiconductor devices.
everything in moderation
1. "Oh, boy, see my fancy new MRAM-equipped machine!"
2. time passes
3. "Hmmm...a blue screen of death"
4. reboot
5. "Hey, the blue scree is still there!"
These things have really high write speeds and are non-volatile. So they will be used at places where write access should be really fast, and the need for reliability and persistence will be high. Because of size considerations (we are talking about multiple Mb per chip here, not Gb) I cannot see them replace flash soon. What I can see is the use in devices that don't need too much memory, but do need speed.
Are there any plans to use this memory as a cache for (solid state) disks? It seems to me that it might be a perfect *companion* chip for flash drives. You can write a few MB to the flash drive really fast, and then it gets copied to the real flash memory, all while maintaining non-volatility. You might also use it to alleviate the (performance) problems with wear leveling in flash drives (place most used sectors of the drive on MRAM, or use the MRAM while swapping much written and less written data during wear leveling).
As always on Slashdot you see many comments on technology replacing other technology. Unless some kind of technology beats older technology on *all* fronts, the older technology will maintain its usefulness, (maybe only in niche markets). In those cases it makes more sense to see if there is synergy between the different kind of technologies than to look for ways of "beating" the other (older) technology.
"The biggest advantage of MRAM over SRAM/eDRAM is not that it retains data without power (though that's nice too), it's that MRAM about as fast as current eDRAM and half the power. And even zero power when not used (while retaining most recent data) is a bonus. "
Points noted although I wouldn't underestimate the influence MRAM will have on UI design.
That's why I said "I wonder why more people don't use..."
Mostly, I'm just curious about the economics of this -- is tech like MRAM ultimately going to be any cheaper than battery+RAM+backup? If so, when, and for what applications?
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
(10 commandments joke)
Contemporary PC operating systems (with plug and pray) are faced with identification and operation of a multitude of devices that can be inserted into the bus or attached to one port or another. Part of what takes a lot of boot time is probing for devices and identifying drivers appropriate to operate them. This is one area where Apple can excel as they have a smaller range of hardware to support (not counting usb...). I recently looked at the linux driver source code for handling serial ports and was astounded at the amount of code required to handle all the slightly different uarts in the wild. It has to be hard for an OS vendor to predict startup time when they don't have a clue what your configuration is. Even back in the PC-AT time, it was impossible to test all configurations. The variety of video boards, hard drives, and processors make all this very difficult.
Again, interesting in that the OS is essentially locked up at this time, with no ability to load other user programs or even accept user input. I realize that 2 billion operations a second seems trivial these days, but you'd think there's be a few million cycles left to serve the user.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?