When the memory market goes toward smaller spaces but greater capacity, Taiwan National Nano Device Laboratories (NDL) announced the advanced microchip technology to develop the smallest memory in the world. An index fingernail sized can store over 100,000 pieces of music or a million pictures.
The research result of “9nm half-pitch functional resistive random access memory (RRMA)” was released in International Electron Devices Meeting, IEDM in San Franciscolast week. The conference has chosen this finding as one of the featured thesis that was also covered by Japanese Nikke News.
This new technology measuring 9nm represents twenty times more storage capacity but only one of two hundredth power consumption compared to current flash memory in mobile phone, digital camera or iPad.
Ho Chia-Hua, the head of the team behind the new microchip technology, estimated a 1cm2 microchip which size is one seventh of a digital camera SD card on the market but stores over 500GB or even 1.5TB. The storage capacity is tens or hundred times more than regular memory card and capable to save two-hundred-hour DVD films, 100,000 MP3 or million photos.
Ho also indicated the traditional flash memory continues becoming smaller and smaller. The 22nm microchip production process will kick off in 1H, 2011, he added. The NDL applied new technology to change the chemical composition of the tungsten-oxide layers in R-RAM and to add voltage to move oxygen atoms in very short distance so that the resistance change and interaction resemble different stored information.
The technology was described as a perfect craft about one hundred times smaller than flu virus type B. With the adaption of the technology, tungsten-oxide layers keep piling up to increase the storage capacity even greater.
This new microchip technology is estimated to start the volume production in five to ten years and 9nm R-RAM technology may generate annual production value of NT$200 million by 2025, Yang Fu-Jiang NDL director added.