Silver ion based technology to replace flash memory in notebooks, smartphones
A start-up company,Crossbar, Inc has pioneered a new silver ion based technology that can replace flash memory in electronic devices such as smart phones, notebooks and tablets.
The product will be commercially available next year, according to George Minassian, CEO of the company.Crossbar’s Resistive Randam Access Memory (RRAM) is capable of storing up to one terabyte (TB) of data on a single 200mm2 chip, and its structure is simple enough to stack onto logic in 3D on the latest technology node, using standard CMOS processes, in existing fabs.
ReRAMs hold advantages over conventional flash drives,according to Crossbar Inc. Because ReRAMs use so little power – in the nanowatt range compared to hundreds of milliwatts for flash drives – they could allow your smartphone to operate up to a week without recharging. A ReRAM chip the size of a postage stamp can hold a terabyte of data, enough to store 250 high-definition movies. Information is written to ReRAMs faster, nanoseconds compared to milliseconds for flash drives. ReRAMS also last longer; they are able to handle millions of rewrites compared to flash drives that fail after about 10,000 rewrites.