Intel Corporation and STMicroelectronics have reached a key industry milestone as they began shipping prototype samples of a future product using a new, innovative memory technology called Phase Change Memory (PCM). The prototypes are the first functional silicon to be delivered to customers for evaluation, bringing the technology one step closer to adoption.
The memory device, codenamed "Alverstone" uses PCM, a promising new memory technology providing very fast read and write speeds at lower power than conventional flash, and allows for bit alterability normally seen in RAM. PCM has long been a topic of discussion for research and development, and with "Alverstone," Intel and STMicroelectronics are helping to move the technology into the marketplace.
In 2003, Intel and STMicroelectronics formed a joint development program (JDP) to focus on Phase Change Memory development. Previously the JDP demonstrated 8Mb memory arrays on 180nm at the 2004 VLSI conference and first disclosed the Alverstone 90nm 128Mbit memory device at the 2006 VLSI Symposium. Alverstone and future JDP products will become part of Numonyx, a new independent semiconductor company created through an agreement between STMicroelectronics, Intel and Francisco Partners signed in May 2007. The new company's strategic focus will be on supplying complete memory solutions for a variety of consumer and industrial devices, including cellular phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, computers and other high-tech equipment. The companies are scheduled to close the transaction in the first quarter of 2008.
In 2007, the combined memory market for DRAM, flash, and other memory products such as EEPROM was US$61 billion, according to the industry research firm Web-Feet Research, Inc. Memory technology cost declines have traditionally been driven at the rate of "Moore’s Law," where density doubles every 18 months with each lithography shrink. As RAM and flash technologies run into scaling limitations over the next decade, PCM costs will decline at a faster rate. The advent of multi-level-cell PCM will further accelerate the cost per bit crossover of PCM technology relative to today's technologies. Finally, by combining the bit-alterability of DRAM, the non-volatility of flash, the fast reads of NOR and the fast writes of NAND, PCM has the ability to address the entire memory market and be a key driver for future growth over the next decade.
Alverstone is a 128Mb device built on 90nm and is intended to allow memory customers to evaluate PCM features, allowing cellular and embedded customers to learn more about PCM and how it can be incorporated into their future system designs.
The world's fastest circuit technology for embedded DRAM for System LSI, achieving a speed of 833MHz at 32Mb density, has been developed by Toshiba Corporation. The technology will be applied to graphic processing LSI. The technology was today introduced at the ISSCC (International Solid State Circuits Conference), held at San Francisco CA from February 3rd.
High speed NAND flash memory technology that can greatly enhance the access and transfer of data in devices that use silicon for storage, has been unveiled. The new technology – developed jointly by Intel Corporation and Micron Technology Inc. and manufactured by the companies’ NAND flash joint venture, IM Flash Technologies (IMFT) – is five times faster than conventional NAND, allowing data to be transferred in a fraction of the time for computing, video, photography and other computing applications.