Sorting Out Next-Gen Memory

#Datacenter and related environments, high-end systems are struggling to keep pace with the growing demands in data processing. There are several bottlenecks in these systems, but one segment that continues to receive an inordinate amount of attention, if not part of the blame, is the memory and storage hierarchy. #SRAM, the first tier of this hierarchy, is integrated into the processor for cache to enable fast data access. Then, #DRAM, the next tier in the hierarchy, is used for main memory. And finally, disk drives and #NAND-based solid-state storage drives ( #SSD s) are used for storage. In 2007, SSDs entered the data center. SSDs helped reduce the growing latency gap between DRAM and disk drives in systems by a factor of 10, according to Forward Insights. But with an ongoing explosion of data, there is roughly a 1,000X latency gap between DRAM and NAND in today’s systems. “The market is now trying to consume more bits at a faster rate,” said Jon Carter, vice president of storage emerging memory products at Micron Technology. “We’ve innovated the network, storage stack and the software stack. Now, the bottleneck is the underlying memory.” In fact, for years, the industry has been searching for a new memory type that can solve the latency gap. In theory, the technology would have the performance of DRAM and the cost and nonvolatile characteristics of flash. Some refer to that as storage-class memory. As before, the next-generation memory types include #MRAM, #phasechangememory , #ReRAM and even #carbonnanotube RAMs. Today, some of these technologies are shipping or sampling in the market. But some will never make it due to cost and technical factors. “Emerging memories have been in the lab for a decade,” said Gregg Bartlett, senior vice president of the CMOS Platforms Business Unit at GlobalFoundries. “Emerging memories have always offered a lot of promise. But the question is, can you manufacture them? Now, it is making a transition into mainstream technology.” So, which technologies ultimately will prevail? There are no simple answers. To help OEMs get ahead of the curve, Semiconductor Engineering has taken a look at the status of the new memory types and the challenges ahead.
http://semiengineering.com/sorting-out-next-gen-memory/