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Solid State Hard Drives Unveiled Replies |
rffrydr
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 Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:01 am Post subject: |
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Isnt' that always the problem with tech--you set the path but then something comes out of left field to take the prize. Algea vs. ethanol?
Apple boosts it' phone and touch flash basis 8mb and ups the price $100.
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HenryTo
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| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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In a few years, the term "flash memory" will be replaced by PCM. It now looks like that my next laptop won't be outfitted with a "solid state" (in the "traditional sense" of the term, with respect to flash) hard drive after all.
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Intel, STMicroelectronics Deliver Industry's First Phase Change Memory Prototypes
Wednesday February 6, 2:00 pm ET
Companies Begin Sampling New, Innovative Memory Technology with Customers
SANTA CLARA, Calif & GENEVA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Intel Corporation and STMicroelectronics reached a key industry milestone today 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.
“This is the most significant non-volatile memory advancement in 40 years,” said Ed Doller, chief technology officer-designate of Numonyx, the new name for the pending STMicroelectronics and Intel flash memory company. “There have been plenty of attempts to find and develop new non-volatile memory technologies, yet of all the concepts, PCM provides the most compelling solution – and Intel and STMicroelectronics are delivering PCM into the hands of customers today. This is an important milestone for the industry and for our companies.”
In related news, Intel and STMicroelectronics technologists presented a research paper this week at the International Solid States Circuits Conference (ISSCC) describing yet another breakthrough in PCM technology. Together, the companies created the world’s first demonstrable high-density, multi-level cell (MLC) large memory device using PCM technology. The move from single bit per cell to MLC also brings significantly higher density at a lower cost per Mbyte making the combination of MLC and PCM a powerful development.
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. |
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HenryTo
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:14 am Post subject: |
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A breakthrough in "phase change memory" - the more attractive alternative to flash:
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20148/?nlid=851
| Quote: | Phase-change memory differs from other solid-state memory technologies such as flash and random-access memory because it doesn't use electrons to store data. Instead, it relies on the material's own arrangement of atoms, known as its physical state. Previously, phase-change memory was designed to take advantage of only two states: one in which atoms are loosely organized (amorphous), and another where they are rigidly structured (crystalline).
But in a paper presented at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco, researchers illustrated that there are two more distinct states that fall between amorphous and crystalline, and that these states can be used to store data.
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One of the features that makes phase-change so compelling as a flash alternative is that it has the same benefits as flash with faster speed, says Jim Handy, an analyst at Objective Analysis, a semiconductor market research firm. Like flash, phase-change memory is a non-volatile memory that can store bits even without a power supply. But unlike flash, data can be written to cells much faster, at rates comparable to the dynamic and static random-access memory (DRAM and SRAM) used in all computers and cell phones today. Currently, Handy explains, computer- and cell-phone engineers use DRAM or SRAM combined with flash. DRAM and SRAM are used to read and write data quickly; flash is used to store data when the power is off. "Handset manufacturers are excited about phase-change memory," Handy says, "because it looks like they could get rid of two of the chips [flash and DRAM] and replace them with one phase-change memory chip." |
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HenryTo
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rffrydr
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HenryTo
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rffrydr
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HenryTo
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| Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:37 am Post subject: |
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Very nice, here is cnet.com's take on it:
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9825675-7.html?tag=nefd.blgs
| Quote: | Solid-state drives are still going to be somewhat hard to find in 2008, but the industry might get close to the magic price point in 2009 or 2010.
Micron Technology, the Boise, Idaho-based maker of DRAM and flash memory, on Wednesday unveiled its plans to come out with solid-state drives. The drives function like regular hard drives, but instead of storing data on spinning disks, the data gets stored on NAND memory chips--the kind found in cameras and MP3 players.
Micron will start mass-producing solid-state drives in the first quarter of 2008. The first drives will hold either 32GB or 64GB of memory. While that's less than half the capacity of the average notebook drive today, it's actually more storage than most business users need, said Dean Klein, vice president of memory system development at Micron. Plus, solid-state notebooks can come out of a deep sleep or launch applications far more rapidly. |
And more:
| Quote: | Meanwhile, the world is swimming in NAND flash, leading to drastic price declines. NAND prices are set to drop 57 percent this year and 52 percent next year, said Joseph Unsworth, an analyst at Gartner.
Put those two factors together, and it could be possible to come out with a 64GB solid-state drive for close to $300 toward the end of 2008, Unsworth speculated. That's still high. He estimates that only 8 million solid-state drives will get shipped in all of 2008. |
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rffrydr
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rffrydr
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HenryTo
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| Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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Samsung developing 64GB SDDs for some of Dell's mobile lines. Having a drive like this should cost about $1,000 more than the "generic" hard drive.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=8826
Assuming a reasonable 40% to 60% decline in prices a year on a per GB basis, we should start seeing these drives in the mainstream probably by Christmas 2009 or sometime in 2010. |
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rffrydr
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rffrydr
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HenryTo
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HenryTo
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