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Samsung To Ship Chip Package With Phase-Change Memory

Posted by timothy on from the going-through-a-phase dept.

angry tapir writes "Samsung Electronics will ship a multichip package later this quarter for smartphones that will include phase-change memory (PCM), an emerging technology that could ultimately replace memory types like NOR flash. Samsung's announcement is significant because it marks the first PCM product to be available as part of a multichip package. PCM uses a glass-like material that can change from multiple states to crystalline forms as its atoms are rearranged."

2 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Performance? by ibsteve2u · · Score: 5, Informative
    Does this answer your question?

    Read Speed

    Like RAM and NOR-type flash, the technology features fast random access times. This enables the execution of code directly from the memory, without an intermediate copy to RAM. The read latency of PCM is comparable to single bit per cell NOR flash, while the read bandwidth can match DRAM. In contrast, NAND flash suffers from long random access times on the order of 10s of microseconds that prevent direct code execution.

    Write/erase speed

    PCM is capable of achieving write speeds like NAND, but with lower latency and with no separate erase step required. NOR flash features moderate write speeds but long erase times. As with RAM, no separate erase step is required with PCM, but the write speed (bandwidth and latency) does not match the capability of RAM today. The capability of PCM is expected, however, however, to improve with each process generation as the PCM cell area decreases.

    --
    Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
  2. Re:Electrical load limit? by ezsailor · · Score: 4, Informative

    "backslash"? Wouldn't it just be "slash"? You learned computing in windoze, yes?