Crossbar RRAM set to revolutionize data storage - 20 times faster- terabyte chips
Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL)
Posts: 1,720
[h=1]Crossbar RRAM set to revolutionize data storage[/h]by Robert Triggs on August 6, 2013 6:45 am
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Flash memory is a massive market in the mobile industry, a $60 billion market to be precise. Its used in virtually every handheld electronic device, from cameras to tablets, but yesterday Crossbar announced its new type of memory chip which could replace the traditional flash memory that were all so familiar with.
Crossbars new technology is known as Resistive RAM (RRAM), which offers substantial storage and speed improvements over existing flash memory. For a start, the new chip can store a terabyte of data on a chip no larger than the size of a postage stamp, thats a lot more memory than currently ships with a new smartphone.
RRAM will also transfer and read data up to 20 times faster than existing flash memory, whilst consuming significantly less power. Crossbar believes that it can write data at 140 megabytes per second, compared to 7 megabytes a second for flash, whilst read performance is 17 megabytes per second. The company also notes that its technology has 10 times the endurance of existing NAND flash chips.
Its all very impressive sounding stuff, which is no doubt why the company hasnt had any trouble attracting $25 million from investors so far, but what does this mean for our handsets and when could we be making use of this new technology?
Providing that Crossbar isnt being too boastful about its new technology, faster memory will certainly make loading applications and booting up our devices much faster, and significant increases in storage size will obviously allow mobile users to store more high quality content and download larger apps, such as more complicated games.
However, adoption of this new technology depends other SoC manufacturers making their chips compatible. Theres no real reason why they wouldnt, eventually, but production capabilities are going to have to rival that of existing flash memory manufacturers, and were all too aware of problems caused by component shortages. Fortunately, Crossbar built a working memory array using current manufacturing technologies, so ramping up production shouldnt be too difficult.
Theres no timetable for release as of yet, but keep your eyes peeled for Crossbar RRAM in the not too distant future.
- See more at: http://www.androidauthority.com/crossbar-rram-data-storage-253270/#sthash.pxqPNy2V.dpuf
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93
9 0 0
Flash memory is a massive market in the mobile industry, a $60 billion market to be precise. Its used in virtually every handheld electronic device, from cameras to tablets, but yesterday Crossbar announced its new type of memory chip which could replace the traditional flash memory that were all so familiar with.
Crossbars new technology is known as Resistive RAM (RRAM), which offers substantial storage and speed improvements over existing flash memory. For a start, the new chip can store a terabyte of data on a chip no larger than the size of a postage stamp, thats a lot more memory than currently ships with a new smartphone.
RRAM will also transfer and read data up to 20 times faster than existing flash memory, whilst consuming significantly less power. Crossbar believes that it can write data at 140 megabytes per second, compared to 7 megabytes a second for flash, whilst read performance is 17 megabytes per second. The company also notes that its technology has 10 times the endurance of existing NAND flash chips.
Its all very impressive sounding stuff, which is no doubt why the company hasnt had any trouble attracting $25 million from investors so far, but what does this mean for our handsets and when could we be making use of this new technology?Providing that Crossbar isnt being too boastful about its new technology, faster memory will certainly make loading applications and booting up our devices much faster, and significant increases in storage size will obviously allow mobile users to store more high quality content and download larger apps, such as more complicated games.
However, adoption of this new technology depends other SoC manufacturers making their chips compatible. Theres no real reason why they wouldnt, eventually, but production capabilities are going to have to rival that of existing flash memory manufacturers, and were all too aware of problems caused by component shortages. Fortunately, Crossbar built a working memory array using current manufacturing technologies, so ramping up production shouldnt be too difficult.
Theres no timetable for release as of yet, but keep your eyes peeled for Crossbar RRAM in the not too distant future.
- See more at: http://www.androidauthority.com/crossbar-rram-data-storage-253270/#sthash.pxqPNy2V.dpuf
Comments
- Can transfer and read data up to 20 times faster than existing flash memory.
- 10 times the endurance of existing NAND flash chips.
- Can store a terabyte of data on a chip no larger than the size of a postage stamp.
- Half the size of traditional NAND.
Just what we need is a Propeller chip that can access a terabyte on a chip. Maybe prop3. :cool:
I have a 2 Tbyte hard disk in my desktop for backup storage of 10 or so years of computer clutter from 4 various computers. I can't imagine what I need Tbytes of storage in a hand-held for... it is vast. All I can do to generate Tbytes is to copy image dumps of several computers uncompressed in triplicate.
My favorite notebook computer has solid-state storage and I loved it, but 4Gbytes was quite adequate.
Maybe I have just become a horse and buggy kind of old foggey. But I still don't want to spend my life managing a database of 1000 or more contacts and friends. Data management takes time away from living.
I am sure Wikileaks might find a way to put this to use, but don't tell the US State Department. They seem to be the only ones that might actually have to read a Tbyte of downloads.
It would really have to be put in a machine that could archive all your legacy computer data and software to be appealing to the general public. That means a Linux machine, not Android, not Apple, not MS.
Hmm, a long way from actual part numbers, and their flash speeds they chose, look quite old as well.
This from back in 2010
["Today's SD cards have data-transfer buses with a maximum speed of 104MB per second, though actual read and write speeds are somewhat slower. The new specification, just called SD 4.0 for now, will increase that to 300MB/sec, "]
["Toshiba's SDHC cards this year will reach read speeds of 95MB/sec and write speeds of 80MB/sec with capacties up to 32GB"]
History is littered with those claiming to have 'flash killers', and still FLASH dominates.
But since I didn't download a pile of boot-leg DVDs from Pirate Bay or a huge bootleg music library, but storage needs are minimal. I am certainly not hanging on to MS-DOS 3.01 software and XP stuff, but there are people that have everything they ever put into a computer.
What did catch my eye above it was quote 140MB write and 17MB read. Are these correct??
Hope there is good power saving too.
How+Silicon+Valleys+BestKept+Secret+Crossbar+Beat+HP+to+the+Market+wRRAM
The HP technology is based on a thin film of titanium dioxide between the crossbar points. About all I can see in the Crossbar-Inc release is their diagram:
Not much to go on, marketing material. No references to scientific or engineering literature, yet, that I can see. It does mention an intensive research effort and that the biggest problem is interfacing with CMOS logic. I think the biggest challenge for HP has been understanding and controlling the basic physics. The Crossbar-Inc. white paper shows an IV curve with the hysteresis necessary to modulate the resistance of the memory cell. That is similar to the hysteresis curve of the HP Memristor, understood in terms of charge displacement in an extremely high electric field gradient. In the HP memristor the charge displacement is in the form of oxygen valencies in the titanium dioxide. In the Crossbar-Inc technology it is (?) "nanoparticles form a conduction path between the top and bottom electrodes". I have to wonder how far they are in understanding and controlling that.
I think that was mangled copy, rather shows the quality of the whole press release.
Read is never slower than write, and I think the 17MB read they meant to apply to their Flash claims, but even that is for very old flash.
I note Samsung has recently started Flash into 3D
-Phil
Data retention on various media = "Can of Worms".
SSDs can run from 3 months to 10 years if not being actively used. Highly dependent on a number of variables.
I have a lot of stuff on DVD and have recently discovered that it is possible they may last as little as 6 months. So I have given up on DVD and have switched back to standard HDDs (they're not that much more expensive anyway).
-Tor
As technology has advanced and got faster and faster so has the speed of "bit rot". From stones to papyrus to paper to punched cards to mag tape and disks to optical media to hoping a handful of electrons stay put in some crystal.
Clearly the whole idea of "back ups" is unworkable now. You can't just throw data into a static and "safe" place and hope it is still there when you get back.
No, your data should be treated like a living thing. To stay alive it needs to be able to:
a) Exist is a population greater than one. Preferably a lot more.
b) Be able to constantly reproduce.
It should never matter if a disk dies. Whatever you have written to it already exists in multiple other places. Those other places should be constantly active keeping replicas going. One dies the data is elsewhere. New store is added, it automatically becomes part of the team and takes on some copy of the data,
Your data should be write only. Never update a file, create a new version. Never be able to delete a file, after all it may be human error "del *.*" You don't want that deletion spreading to all your backups now do you?
Your local storage on PC, laptop, whatever should be considered as disposable. The OS, the apps, the data (except recent new data) is all replaceable.
That "recent new data" should be considered as non-existent until it has made it to your storage farm.