The memory market is going in several different directions at once. On one front, the traditional memory types, such DRAM and flash, remain the workhorse technologies in systems despite undergoing some changes in the business. Then, several vendors are readying the next-generation memory types in the market.

As part of an ongoing series, Semiconductor Engineering will explore where the new and traditional memory technologies are heading. In this segment, Greg Schmergel, chairman and chief executive of Nantero, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to discuss memory trends. Nantero is a developer of carbon nanotube RAMs, called NRAMs. What follows are excerpts of that conversation.

SE: What are the problems with existing memory?

Schmergel: Every customer would like to have fast nonvolatile memory. They have been living for decades with the choice between either fast DRAM or nonvolatile and slow flash with limited endurance. Ideally, they would like a memory that is as fast as DRAM and nonvolatile like flash, or at least something in between, close to DRAM performance.

SE: What do NRAMs bring to the party?

Schmergel: Our memory answers that need. It is as fast as DRAM, while being nonvolatile. We do have unlimited endurance as well. And that has led to a lot of rethinking of the memory hierarchy and how you design systems and devices. It has led to us partnering with a number of the world’s largest memory users, both on the standalone and embedded side.

SE: We’ve been hearing about the new memory types for years. Suppliers have made some bold promises, but most have failed to deliver. Thoughts?

Schmergel: There has always been skepticism. But the openness for new options has gone up dramatically. The industry has really started to think about what these new technologies could do for their products.

SE: What is a carbon nanotube RAM and how does it work?

Schmergel: NRAM is nanotube random access memory. It’s based on carbon nanotubes, which are either in contact with each other or not in contact with each other to form high resistive and low resistive states. So you have very distinct ‘0s’ and ‘1s’. This is because there is a large difference in resistance between the ‘on’ and ‘off’ state. The carbon nanotubes move from position to position in picoseconds. So it’s a very fast memory. It requires low energy to write. And it doesn’t wear out.

By: DocMemory
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