'Phase Change' Memory

The test set-up for 'phase-change' memory (photo courtsey: IBM)

Scientists from IBM, Macronix, and Qimonda achieved a major breakthrough in developing a new type of computer memory that could well be the successor to flash memory. Their joint work at IBM Research Labs succeeded in designing, building, and demonstrating a prototype "Phase-change" memory device that is able to switch over 500 times faster than 'flash' memory, while using less than half the power required to write data to a cell. Since no electrical power is required to maintain either phase of the material, "Phase-change" memory is non-volatile by nature.

The new memory material is a complex semiconductor alloy with germanium antimony semiconductor base doped with other, unspecified elements -- designed with the help of mathematical simulations specifically used in phase-change memory cells. The prototype memory device measures a miniscule 3 by 20 nanometers, which is far smaller than the size of any flash memory on the market today.

Many in industry expect flash memory to encounter significant scaling limitations in the near future (Also, read our past posting on Samsung's 40nm flash memory). Thus phase-change memories have the clear potential to play an important role in future memory systems.

The technical details of the joint research will be presented on Dec 13 at the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 2006 and International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco.