The chips developed by Quinas physicists have ten times lower latency than DRAM memories and last 4,000 times longer than NAND Flash integrated circuits.
There’s life beyond the NAND flash chips that our computers, smartphones, and other devices plug into to solve secondary storage. In the last two years has become increasingly important A technical proposal developed by a team of researchers from the Department of Physics at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. Your technology From the outset this sounds very good, but recently an incident has occurred which calls us to think more earnestly.
Physicists involved in the development of ultraram integrated circuits, as this invention is called, created a company, Quinoa, with the aim of completing the development of this technology and starting its commercialization. Not all such efforts have been successful, but the technical basis of this project is very solid and the advantages it promises over conventional NAND Flash chips are undeniable. These are the reasons why we decided to talk to you about this technology.
Why are UltraRAM ICs so promising?
Quinas physicists claim that their technology has allowed them to build integrated circuits with the non-volatile information storage capacity and access times of DRAM memory chips. This means, in short, that your proposal integrates Advantages of NAND Flash and DRAM memories. Well, not really. And they assure us that the latency of their chips is ten times lower than DRAM memories. It is very good.
Their creators estimate that the useful life of these chips is 4,000 times longer than that of NAND Flash integrated circuits.
However, these are not the only assets playing in favor of UltraRAM technology. Their creators estimate that the useful life of these chips is 4,000 times longer than that of NAND Flash integrated circuits, so on paper they are capable of storing information for over 1,000 years. If this is true, the reliability and durability issues that limit the useful life of SSD storage units will surely disappear.
Regarding their power consumption, they also give us good news: UltraRAM chips Consume a hundred times less than DRAMs produced on the same lithographic node. All this is surprisingly good, and there is a solid reason to take it seriously beyond the fact that behind this technology there are talented scientists conducting their research at a respected university: Meta is curious In this innovation.
The UltraRAM chips the Quinas researchers are currently working on are manufactured using 20 nm lithography, but in the coming months they will receive new equipment that will allow them to develop their integration technology. However, the two technological pillars underlying this innovation are MBE equipment (Molecular beam epitaxy) and the quantum effect is called resonant tunneling.
MBE machines are responsible for depositing a layer of layers Semiconductor composite material (gallium antimonide, indium arsenide and aluminum antimonide). On the other hand, the purpose of this article is not to explore The reverberating tunnel effect, but more broadly it is a quantum mechanism that allows an electron to overcome an energy barrier. Be that as it may, prudence calls us to observe with reservations until the UltraRAM technology is commercially available and proves that it fulfills all that it promises. However, it looks good. There is no doubt about it.
Cover Image: Quinoa
More information: Quinoa | Tom’s Hardware
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