Intel looks at flash replacement

BOFFINS at Intel have been coming up with new cunning plans for what it will use to replace flash memory.

Flash memory has yet to go through a phase of being installed in PCs, but that hasn't stopped Chipzilla releasing details of research that doubles the storage capacity of a single phase-change memory cell.

According to a paper presented at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco, the boffins have worked out that if you use some smart algorithms in the chip you do not have to add cost to the existing phase-change memory fabrication process.

Phase-change does not use electrons to store data. It uses two states as on and off buttons. In one, atoms are loosely organised and in another they are rigidly structured.

Intel has worked out that between the pillars of order and chaos there are states that can be used to store data. They used a tiny heater controlled by algorithms to write the data cells on a heat responsive glass called GST.

The cell, which contains two bits, is read by measuring its electrical resistance between two electrodes.

More here. µ

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