IBM’s new memory tech could turbocharge your smartphone

By Darren Allan

IBM has made a breakthrough in researching memory technology when it comes to developing ‘universal memory‘ that falls somewhere between DRAM and flash, and could revolutionise storage across the board.

The breakthrough involves phase-change memory (PCM) which IBM has successfully achieved storing three bits of data per cell for the first time, compared to previous demonstrations of storing one bit per cell. This ups the ante considerably in terms of cost-effectiveness.

PCM is much more durable than flash – it can last something like 10 million write cycles compared to the average flash USB stick which endures around 3,000 write cycles – and it’s way faster, coming closer to DRAM performance, but with one big difference: it doesn’t lose data when switched off like DRAM.

Significant cost reduction

Dr Haris Pozidis, manager of non-volatile memory research at IBM Research, commented: “Phase change memory is the first instantiation of a universal memory with properties of both DRAM and flash, thus answering one of the grand challenges of our industry. Reaching 3 bits per cell is a significant milestone because at this density the cost of PCM will be significantly less than DRAM and closer to flash.”

That cost reduction is vital in terms of actually …read more

Source:: techradar.com – Computing Components