New flash RAM tech promises 99% energy drop
Nanotechnology boffins are exploring a new type of nonvolatile memory that not only has the potential of being faster than today's flash RAM, but also requires 99 per cent less energy. Called ferroelectric transistor random access memory – FeTRAM, for short – the scheme is based on a new type of transistor that combines silicon …
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Faster, lower power – what's not to like?
The price, once (if?) it debuts, is surely a candidate, as usual.
Memristor?
I wonder how it will stack up against HP's memristor that's also being developed. Things could get mighty interesting in the storage market if either of these technologies get perfected...
Don't forget.
IBM still has that racetrack memory on the go. I quite like the idea, it seems very scifi.
Agree - HP say that the commercialised memristor should be available in 2013, which beats PCM's slated release
if it's like the other promised new memory tech...
I'll wait to see it in a retro-futurisum art show.
Of course this new develop...
...brings up the inevitable question...How long before the jackasses at Rambus file suit for patent infringement?!
But note the following (from the Birk Nano Technology article to which Rik links) :
«'However, our present device consumes more power because it is still not properly scaled', Das said. 'For future generations of FeTRAM technologies one of the main objectives will be to reduce the power dissipation. ...'»
Looks as if, just as in the case of faster-than-light neutrinos, there's still a way to go before the good stuff drops down....
Henri
New materials might be intersting.
Depends how well they integrate into existing fab lines.
Cautious thumbs up for novelty. But this is v0.1
That's ok, because they did reverse the polarity; it "switches polarity when an electric field is applied to it." We'll have to wait and see if they change the intermix ratio, and where tachyon emissions fit into it.
@Dick Emery
Of course not! We have to get through duotronic "tape"-reading behemoths first.
question..
doesn't RAM hardly use any energy anyway?
so a 99% drop of not much isn't that much of a saving - just asking?
Title is misleading
I think that Flash "RAM" as per the title, isn't actually RAM, but Non-Volatile RAM, NVRAM (also known as Flash memory/storage).
So, we're comparing with Flash storage, not with RAM (SIMMS/DIMMS etc.).
Memory power consumption...
If you think memory hardly draws any power then you've never put your hand on top of a DIMM in a running machine.
They can get pretty warm - not an issue in desktops but everything counts in battery operated devices.
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