Array-Based Memory May Put a Terabyte On a Chip

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."

Comments

Good News Everybody!

[clonan]

We on Slashdot just learned how to use a TB of ram only yesterday!

USB 3.0 desperately needed here...

[Zymergy]

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

Re:USB 3.0 desperately needed here...

[TheRealMindChild]

I don't think it is a real issue. How often are you going to be moving a completely different 1TB onto the drive? Right now, especially here on Slashdot, handfuls of us already have 1TB NAS enclosures. They run over USB 2.0 just fine, if only because we don't fill the thing up and/or empty it at every usage... it is a gradual add/delete, just like any other general storage device ever used.

Re:USB 3.0 desperately needed here...

[merreborn]

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.

cantilever memory is decades old

[davidwr]

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.

50 Gigs

[zippthorne]

We only need 50 GB, and in a form factor about a third of a deck of cards, and cheaper than a BRD. And it doesn't even have to be rewritable. Then, the tyranny of spinning disk media will finally be temporarily ameliorated, by USB high definition video players.

Imagine: not having to worry about your media obsoleting because the interface is so cheap and useful that it is guaranteed to be on every computing device long after it has been surpassed by superior buses.

Imagine a robust format that doesn't skip or scratch, even if you keep it in your pocket with your keys.

Imagine a built-in crypto chip ensuring strong DRM by essencially creating an encrypted ssh tunnel straight to your video display device, using a different key every time for the actual data.

(ok, the last one's maybe not so great, but there's no reason why anything with a usb connect can't have the crypto built in, so you'd still have your portability. If there's still a problem, then it's better to enforce the rules as perfectly as possible. People don't usually object to rules that don't affect them, witness the capricious speed laws for your example there)

Re:50 Gigs

[Original Replica]

If there's still a problem, then it's better to enforce the rules as perfectly as possible.

According to the series of tubes "The best way to repeal a bad law is to enforce it." was first said by Lincoln, Grant, and several other old dead guys. It might hold true for criminal laws which regulate behaviors, it doesn't work so well for thing that regulate the flow of money. Mostly because the laws which regulate the flow of money, make it flow into the pockets of the powerful. Secondly they people who are in a position to make the needed changes aren't actually effected by something like a $25 CD, because they have two or three orders of magnitude more disposable income than the rest of the society. The richest 10% own 89% of the stock. In a corporate world where everything is beholden to the shareholder, those 10% are the only ones who really count. That same 10% isn't effected by overpriced CDs or overpriced gas or overpriced pharmaceuticals, because they have plenty of cash to cover it without it effecting their quality of life.

Longevity and speed

[hcdejong]

These chips use moving parts. TFA mentions concerns over the longevity of the read/write element, but I'd expect the rest of the system to be more vulnerable than solid-state memory as well. With thousands of read/write probes working in parallel, there are lots of points of failure. Also, a mechanical system would have to be pretty incredible to beat the access times offered by current memory.

Re:Longevity and speed

[JustinOpinion]

This technology is essentially what is used in atomic force microscopes, and was being investigated by IBM for data storage under the name "Millipede". It basically involves a huge array of cantilevers that have very sharp tips on them (typical tip size is 20 nm but smaller is possible). The tips are used to read and write dots on the surface.

So yes, this system has moving parts. The tips have to scan across the surface, and the cantilevers are basically springs that bend up and down as the tips move over the surface. This definitely has some wear issues to consider, but it's nothing like the large-scale and high-speed movements of a hard drive (where a >2" disk is rotating at >7,000 rpm). Instead, the tips are moving laterally by micrometers at most (the huge array is what allows a large surface to be probed), and the cantilevers are springing up-and-down by only nanometers. The movement in an AFM is controlled using piezoelectric deformation of quartz actuators. This small-scale movement is very robust and reproducible. Quartz oscillators can vibrate/move thousands of times a second continuously for years without much problem (think of oscillators used for clocks, etc.). Moreover this technology has been used in commercial AFMs for years, so it's well-understood.

The thousands of tips are probably all actuated together by a single piezo-motor. They move in unison which would actually allow for high-speed reading/writing (since thousands of bits are read/written at once). You're right that each tip is in principle a point of failure. However, with the right error-correction algorithm, the device could be built so that even if a few tips break, no data is lost.

I agree that the access time isn't going to be as fast as modern RAM, but it could very well be faster than modern hard-drives. I think this is intended as permanent storage, not volatile memory.