IBM unveils phase-change memory that makes Flash redundant

IBM's research division has announced a huge step forward in memory technology that could make existing Flash technology redundant.

The phase-change memory (PCM) system is able to write and read data 100 times faster than Flash memory, and can undertake at least 10 million write cycles, compared with the 3-30,000 cycles available today.

The chips themselves are capable of storing data at much higher densities than currently possible and can retain information when powered down.

Haris Pozidis, manager of memory and probe technologies at IBM Research in Zurich, said the technology was ideally suited for the new era of storage systems that are growing in use.

"As organisations and consumers increasingly embrace cloud-computing models and services – whereby most of the data is stored and processed in the cloud – ever-more powerful and efficient yet affordable storage technologies are needed," he said.

"By demonstrating a multi-bit phase-change memory technology which achieves for the first time reliability levels akin to those required for enterprise applications, we made a big step towards enabling practical memory devices based on multi-bit PCM."

The PCM technology uses precise measurements in electrical resistance across materials to store and process multiple data points within a single memory cell, as opposed to single unit storage in use today. It is capable of storing four-bit combinations in this way – 00, 01, 10 and 11.

The announcement comes at a good time, as many analysts are worried that current memory technology is running out of steam on an engineering front. Architecture sizes are approaching as low as they can go, and the PCM system could offer a way forward.