An alternative to flash memory will appear this year.

Three months ago, Intel and STMicroelectronics announced the founding of a joint venture and nine R & D centers around the world to develop and produce a fundamentally new type of flash memory with a phase change (ovonic unified memory, i.e. OUM). According to experts, the commercial output of the first products may occur already this year. More advanced technology is able to completely oust standard NAND flash memory from the market.

At the Flash Memory Summit conference this week, Greg Komoto, Strategic Planning Manager for Intel Flash Production, said the company had already made samples of 90-nanometer OUM. He also stated that this memory will replace the traditional NAND memory in the future. According to him, no other technology can compete with OUM in price and other characteristics.



Intel research shows that OUM technology can be used in technical processes with standards up to 15 nm. This opens up great prospects for the miniaturization of microcircuits, which means their cheaper prices and improved quality characteristics.
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Phase state memory chips are made of the same material as a regular compact disc. In the process of production, after molding, certain areas of the material are quickly heated to 600 ° C, from which these areas melt, that is, they transfer from a crystalline to an amorphous state.