ST-Intel ships off newborn PRAM

ACTUALLY DELIVERING on a promise made last year, Intel and ST Microelectronics have begun shipping off samples of their jointly-developed phase change memory chippery – most commonly known as PRAM. The PRAM shipped to unwary partners today is of the 128Mb kind. In typical Intel fashion, the PRAM device was given a birth-name: Alverstone.

PRAM is a non-volatile species of memory that promises to solve the shortcomings of current Flash technology by improving its read/write speed, life cycle and drastically reducing size and consumption. It uses a different approach to the whole non-volatile memory shebang, by resorting to chalcogenide glass – that when subjected to heat, changes state (hence your “0” and “1”).

Last year ST-Intel demoed PRAM devices with a claimed lifecycle of 100 million read/write, averaging about 1000 times better “lifespan” than NOR Flash. However, world+dog seem to have their stake in this market already claimed. The Intel STM alliance prototype, however, differs from the competition by having four physical states (as Charlie mentioned earlier, they called it Multi-Level Cell), which effectively doubles the memory cell capacity without changing the oh-so important economics of manufacturing.

Alvie is a 90nm baby and is being shipped to cellular and embedded customers for evaluation right now. They are starting off with PRAM of the NOR Flash, targeted at the lower levels of the Flash food chain. However Intel’s joint venture with ST Micro (and Francisco Partners) will eventually spawn a fledgling Semiconductor company named Numonyx. Numonyx will pwn Alvie and its technologies, and will be responsible for the continued development of PRAM technologies.

Intel thinks there’s a lot of money to be made in this market. They even had Web-Feet Research Inc. remind the world that in 2007 the combined market for DRAM, flash and other memory products such as EEPROM was US$61 billion. µ