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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."

4 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. Good News Everybody! by clonan · · Score: 4, Funny

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

  2. Re:USB 3.0 desperately needed here... by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    --

    "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
  3. Longevity and speed by hcdejong · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Longevity and speed by JustinOpinion · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.