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Array-Based Memory May Put a Terabyte On a Chip

Posted by kdawson on from the need-ramback-now dept.

Lucas123 writes "A new type of flash memory, called array-based memory, could offer a terabyte of data on a single chip within the next decade by bypassing current NAND memory technology, which is limited by the miniaturization capability of lithography. According to the Computerworld story, start-up Nanochip Inc. is being backed by Intel and others, and over 11 years has made research breakthroughs that will enable it to deliver working prototypes to potential manufacturing partners next year. And by 2010, the first chips are expected to reach 100GB capacity."

11 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. USB 3.0 desperately needed here... by Zymergy · · Score: 3, Informative

    USB 3.0 or *something faster* will be required for devices this large in portable storage capacity.. USB 2.0 is ~480Mbps (theoretical max) and it would take forever to transfer a terabyte over USB 2.0.
    http://www.usb.org/usb30
    http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201807389

    1. Re:USB 3.0 desperately needed here... by Sylver+Dragon · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'm thinking eSATA may fill the gap, though it does have the drawback of not powering the device directly. Of course, there is an easy solution to that: have a device which runs on 5VDC at less than 5mw. Connect the data port to eSATA and the power port to the USB port, and you're done.

      --
      Necessity is the mother of invention.
      Laziness is the father.
    2. Re:USB 3.0 desperately needed here... by QuantumRiff · · Score: 2, Informative

      Not to be picky, but NAS is "Network Attached Storage" You have an external hard drive.

      --

      What are we going to do tonight Brain?
    3. Re:USB 3.0 desperately needed here... by merreborn · · Score: 3, Informative

      USB 3.0 or *something faster* will be required for devices this large in portable storage capacity
      10GigE is faster than USB3, and on the market right now.

      Problem solved.
    4. Re:USB 3.0 desperately needed here... by Martin+Blank · · Score: 2, Informative

      For some, it's both -- a USB enclosure plugged into a router.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    5. Re:USB 3.0 desperately needed here... by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 2, Informative

      I don't know how you can write, but not read. It turns any USB storage device into NAS.

      --

      "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
    6. Re:USB 3.0 desperately needed here... by Digi-John · · Score: 2, Informative

      It is already free/open source, under the Lucent Public License (assuming you can bring yourself to run non-GPL code, I know it's hard for some people here). Plan 9 Port will allow you to run Venti on Linux, but ideally you just download Plan 9 and install it on your file server; you can then use v9fs to access Plan 9's fileservers.
      I do my work natively under Plan 9, so I don't have much experience using Venti and Linux.

      --
      Klingon programs don't timeshare, they battle for supremacy.
    7. Re:USB 3.0 desperately needed here... by ThisNukes4u · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'm thinking eSATA may fill the gap, though it does have the drawback of not powering the device directly. Of course, there is an easy solution to that: have a device which runs on 5VDC at less than 5mw. Connect the data port to eSATA and the power port to the USB port, and you're done. I think you mean less than 500mw(the limit a single USB port can supply), not 5mw. Most 2.5" laptop harddrives meet this requirement, not sure about other types.
      --
      thisnukes4u.net
    8. Re:USB 3.0 desperately needed here... by ThisNukes4u · · Score: 2, Informative

      As yes, you got me. USB ports supply up to 500 mA(not mW). The total power a single USB port can supply is 2.5W

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      thisnukes4u.net
  2. cantilever memory is decades old by davidwr · · Score: 3, Informative

    Memory device with dual cantilever means, United States Patent 5036490, IBM, published 07/30/1991. TFA talks about IBM's Millipede project, which looks like something similar.

    A better summary would have said "Improvements to cantilever memory hold promise for 1TB chips by 2018" or something similar.

    Wikipedia has some information on non-memory uses of micro-cantilevers.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  3. Re:Longevity and speed by dpilot · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sounds similar to a DLP TV, to me. On those things, the mirrors are flexing up to 60 times each second, the whole time the TV is on. I remember reading something about the wear issue, and they found that if they constrain the flexing (less than 17 degrees, IIRC) that wear was not an issue. Apparently wear rises rapidly with the degree of the flex.

    --
    The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.