Flashy replacement
Samsung Electronics has completed the first working prototype of what is expected to be the main memory device to replace high density NOR flash within the next decade.
More scalable than any other memory architecture being researched, Phase-change Random Access Memory (PRAM) features the fast processing speed of RAM for its operating functions combined with the non-volatile features of flash memory for storage.
Samsung claims a key advantage in PRAM is its extremely fast performance. Because PRAM can rewrite data without having to first erase data previously accumulated, it is effectively 30 times faster than conventional flash memory. PRAM is also expected to have at least 10 times the life span of flash memory.
Samsung believes PRAM will be a highly competitive choice over NOR flash, available beginning sometime in 2008. Samsung designed the cell size of its PRAM to be only half the size of NOR flash. Moreover, it requires 20 percent fewer process steps to produce than those used in the manufacturing of NOR flash memory.
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