Chip giants unite for Flash replacement
A joint venture between two of the world’s largest chip firms plans to release a new alternative to Flash memory this year.
Numonyx, formed from the memory units of Intel and STMicroelectronics to commercialize phase-change memory, was created to commercialize Phase Change Memory (PCM), which is said to combine the read speed of NOR Flash and write speed of NAND.
PCM memory also degrades far more slowly than Flash memory and requires no erase cycle.
Phase-change memory works by using tiny heaters to switch cells of chalcogenide glass between a low-resistance crystalline state and an amorphous form with a much higher resistance.
Intel said in February that it had produced PCM cells that store two bits instead on one, which could make the technology price competitive with Flash for purposes such as solid-state disks.
Initial applications are likely to be in mobile phones but the technology is unlikely to go mainstream for at least two years.
Website: www.numonyx.com