Development of Industry’s First Ever High-Speed Non-Volatile Resistance Memory as a Promising Next-Generation Memory
In the world of memory there is no in between. There is always a compromise at some point or another. While dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) enjoys a superior read/write speeds and endurance over its non-volatile memory counter part, it has a tendency to quickly losing data when the power supply is turned off. On the other hand NAND flash memory a leading example of nonvolatile memory has it own set of performance issues while being capable of retaining data even when the power has turned OFF.
Now, in order to take advantage of best of these two worlds, while distancing ourselves away from their shortcomings, Elpida has come up with first ever high-speed non-volatile resistance memory for short ReRAM prototype. This new type of non-volatile memory, a promising next-generation semiconductor memory technology has a capability of high-speed read/write with very little voltage spent.
The new memory type uses type of material which changes resistance in faces of changes in the electric voltage. Then new ReRAM prototype which was made using 50nm process technology has a memory cell array operation of 64 megabit, which coincidently one of the highest densities possible for ReRAM. The new memory has a write speed of 10nanosecond, which is about the same as DRAM and write endurance of more than a million times of DRAM and more than 10 times of NAND. Elpida is targeting the year 2013 as the year for volume production of ReRAM in a gigabit capacity class using 30nm process technology. With its contribution in reducing memory power consumption, the new ReRAM may very well be the choice for memory for array of electronic devices such as smartphones, tablet PCs, as well as ultra-thin light notebook PCs, just to name a few.
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