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TrafficProducer
05-03-2010, 01:45 PM
PCM to replace flash memory in many gadgets

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10093528.stm

The most widely adopted form of PCM, (phase change material), is typically made from an alloy of germanium, antimony and titanium which forms a glass-like material. Heating it by applying a voltage makes the material turn into two separate forms that exhibit very different resistances to electricity.

...

Aimed at Smartphones to get novel memory material

The memory reads and writes data faster than existing technologies Smartphones could have their battery life extended by up to 20% by changing what type of memory they use
....

It eventually expects PCM to replace flash memory in many gadgets. :p

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10093528.stm

Mike22
05-03-2010, 04:11 PM
Never heard of PCM before, apparently most alloys of this type are made from Ge, Sb and Ti. [Ge, Sb are interestingly in the same group as C/Si, where as Ti is a d-block element]

That's impressive, but wont memory that is dependant on phase transitional change be more susceptible to data loss when there are temperature changes. Some countries have a large variation in temperature conditions... I would hate it if the memory became corrupt just because I stepped out for a loaf of fresh bread one frosty morning!

"10 times faster than some existing flash memory types" << That's vague, but would be impressive if they dropped the "some". So PCM is the way of the future, smaller faster and less energy consumption... I'll keep my ears to the ground.

TrafficProducer
05-04-2010, 01:13 AM
:-o

I was thinking the same, take it out the warm pocket into the winters cold air and BSOD. Also I was thinking it must take time, (OK nano-seconds but these will add up) to change from one state to another, and then to cool down.:?

So how do they say it will be faster:?:

Flash type memory can have a re-write to the same memory issues, I think this will not have this issue.:-P


Never heard of PCM before, apparently most alloys of this type are made from Ge, Sb and Ti. [Ge, Sb are interestingly in the same group as C/Si, where as Ti is a d-block element]

That's impressive, but wont memory that is dependant on phase transitional change be more susceptible to data loss when there are temperature changes. Some countries have a large variation in temperature conditions... I would hate it if the memory became corrupt just because I stepped out for a loaf of fresh bread one frosty morning!

"10 times faster than some existing flash memory types" << That's vague, but would be impressive if they dropped the "some". So PCM is the way of the future, smaller faster and less energy consumption... I'll keep my ears to the ground.