That flash memory is starting to become a more and more attractive technology for longterm storage is pretty obvious by now and even if solid state harddrives have many advantages over the mechanical models we use today there are disadvantages as well. The performance of flash memory is pretty impressive, but wen compared to SRAM circuits the difference is staggering and this is something three semiconductor manufacturers have decided to use. The companies, IBM, Matronix and Qimonda, have namely decided to present a new model of the memory technology Samsung earlier presented, also known as PRAM (Phase-change Random Access Memory).
Samsung’s PRAM was claimed to have 30 times the performance of regular flash memory, pretty decent one has to say, but IBM, Matronix and Qimonda claims that its PRAM model is over 500 times as fast as flash memory, which is even more impressive. Except from the huge performance increase the circuits only consumes half of the power of flash memory. The main advantage of PRAM is that you get a lot faster circuit while the data will remain even if they lose power.
“But Richard Doherty, an analyst at the research firm Envisioneering Group, characterized the disclosures as the biggest research advance in chips he has seen so far in the decade. Among other things, he predicts designers of microprocessors could place much more data storage on their chips, reducing the delays of fetching data from chips elsewhere in a computer. “It clearly changes the economics of storage,” he said.”
PRAM is looking very promising and today the biggest problem is the manufacturing of the circuits which needs improvement before a mass production can begin. Samsung is expected to launched its first PRAM circuits in 2008 but when this trio of semiconductor manufacturers will release its version of PRAM remains a bit foggy. But as the first prototypes have been made with a 20nm process it feels like a circuit for the future.
