The accomplishment stems from the work the two companies have been doing together on a type of non-volatile memory called phase-change memory, or PCM. The research partners say they have successfully stacked multiple layers of PCM arrays within a single 64 Mb die.

In demonstrating a verticially integrated memory cell comprising PCM and an ovonic threshold switch, researchers have shown that its possible to use the technologies to build chips that cost less and have higher performance and memory densities than traditional NAND flash memory used in a variety of applications, such as system memory in computers and handheld devices and solid-state drives used as an alternative to hard drives in PCs and servers.

The reason PCM could prove a better alternative to NAND is because the former uses far less voltage. Where NAND uses an electrical charge to store and read memory, PCM uses heat on chalcogenide glass, which is the same material used in re-writable optical media, such as CDs and DVDs.

Using less voltage means PCM can store much more memory in a single die while using far less power. That's because NAND's use of electrical charges makes it difficult to scale the memory down to less than 20 nanometers and remain stable. PCM, on the other hand, can scale down to less than 5 nm.

 

Intel's and Numonyx's' latest accomplishment is strictly a research milestone, not a production or commercial one.