a billionth of a meter makes a world of difference
-
The race for nano-sized information storage is ever an ever quickening competition for supremacy and innovation. IBM’s latest bid for top-rank (along with partner TDK) consists of spin-polarized electron technology and spin torque transfer RAM (STT-RAM) in which an electric current is applied to a magnet to change the magnetic field direction; the levels of resistance register as Ones and Zeros, which ultimately creates the binary code. The first prototype from IBM featuring this new technology will be unveiled within the next four years and is estimated to be 65-nanometers in size – the smaller the size of the chip, the faster and more efficient it is. Grandis also claims to have a STT-RAM chip that will be available sometime next year.
The only known competitor to STT-RAM technology is Phase Change technology – Phase Change requires the chip to be heated by several hundred degrees Celsius which changes the crystalline material to amorphous, thus creating surfaces that read as Ones and Zeros. STT-RAM is faster and will last longer, but Phase Change is much denser.
Rumor has it that Intel and STMicroelectronics will soon announce a joint venture, Numonyx, which will bring Phase Change memory to the marketplace.