back to article 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 …

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  1. J 3
    Happy

    Faster, lower power – what's not to like?

    The price, once (if?) it debuts, is surely a candidate, as usual.

  2. bazza Silver badge

    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...

    1. Graham Dawson Silver badge

      Don't forget.

      IBM still has that racetrack memory on the go. I quite like the idea, it seems very scifi.

    2. Simon.W
      Thumb Up

      Agree - HP say that the commercialised memristor should be available in 2013, which beats PCM's slated release

  3. Oninoshiko

    if it's like the other promised new memory tech...

    I'll wait to see it in a retro-futurisum art show.

  4. Jimbo in Thailand
    Devil

    Of course this new develop...

    ...brings up the inevitable question...How long before the jackasses at Rambus file suit for patent infringement?!

  5. mhenriday
    Boffin

    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

  6. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Thumb Up

    New materials might be intersting.

    Depends how well they integrate into existing fab lines.

    Cautious thumbs up for novelty. But this is v0.1

  7. Dick Emery

    but it's not isolinear :P

    1. Chris Hance

      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.

    2. Graham Dawson Silver badge

      @Dick Emery

      Of course not! We have to get through duotronic "tape"-reading behemoths first.

  8. Fuzzy Duck
    Meh

    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?

    1. Matthew Collier

      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.).

  9. Alan Brown Silver badge

    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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