New Silicon-Based Memory 5X Denser Than NAND Flash

Lucas123 writes "Researchers at Rice University said today they have been able to create a new non-volatile memory using nanocrystal wires as small as 5 nanometers wide that can make chips five times more dense than the 27 nanometer NAND flash memory being manufactured today. And, the memory is cheap because it uses silicon and not more expensive graphite as been used in previous iterations of the nanowire technology. The nanowires also allow stacking of layers to create 3-D memory, even more dense. 'The fact that they can do this in 3D makes makes it highly scalable. We've got memory that's made out of dirt-cheap material and it works,' a university spokesman said."

Comments

so how wide is 5nm?

[ChipMonk]

The radius of a silicon atom is 111 to 210 picometers, depending on the measurement context. (Check Wikipedia to see what I mean.) That means 5nm is somewhere between 23 and 45 silicon atoms wide.