Samsung to begin Mass Production of Phase Change Memory

[WiCKeD]

Interesting technology that could replace flash memory and offer far faster speeds.

2.5 years ago, Samsung had already presented a 512 Mbit prototype of a so-called 'phase-change memory chip', abbreviated to PRAM. This memory, -by Samsung branded ' Perfect RAM' because of the advantages the chips have compared to the current NAND- and NOR-flash memory- uses heat to crystallize the chemical mixture chalcogenide from amorphous phase. Bits in an amorphous phase represent a logical '0', while the crystallized bits code '1'. According to the latest reports, Samsung will start mass producing PRAM chips in June.

Full article @ Hardware.info

[maximus7724]

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache...ient=firefox-a

had some problems with the link, this one should work

[AruisDante]

I think it's a pretty cool idea. The only thing I wonder about is temperature stability. If the process relays on changing the phase of a compound, that means that it is extremely temperature and pressure sensitive. It'll be interesting to see if this stuff is as durable to large temperature changes as traditional flash memory is.

[dellysmelly]

Wow if it retains its memory, would booting up be quick?

[AruisDante]

It's a form of solid state memory (EEPROM), not RAM. All solid state memory retains memory at power off. The difference here is that this memory doesn't need to be errased first to change its digital state (0/1), it can just change it, similar to a traditional HDD. An SSD made from this technology would not suffer from the performance drop that happens to a traditional SSD once all sectors have been written to once and it must perform an erase-write operation every time it writes.

[timmylol]

This would make a good SSD. Imagine how fast it would be to boot up. The prices are going to be steep though.

[Camride]

Very cool! I don't expect to see this at the consumer level for several years though(at any kind of decent price point anyway).