Magnetic Memory Chip: MRAM Maintains Data whilst Powered Down
Freescale Semiconductor Inc. have announced the availability of a memory chip much like RAM that will retain it’s memory (unlike RAM) when powered down, combining the super-fast speed of RAM with the practicality of the good old (but slow) hard drive. The chips called MRAM, or Magnetoresistive Random-Access Memory, use a magnetic field to store their data rather than electrical charge, which traditional RAM uses.
So why is this a breakthrough? My pen drive can do this. Well, flash memory can keep data without power but is much slower than MRAM. MRAM has the speed of the RAM in your PC, and considering this RAM is storing the data from this webpage in your browser right now, it is very very fast compared to flash memory or hard drives. MRAM is fast to read and write bits, and as an added bonus doesn’t degrade over time whereas hard drives unfortunately do; often taking gigabytes of data with them. Freescale Semiconductor Inc. announced that it has been making the MRAM chips for just over 2 months in order to build up supply, and now MRAM is available for commercial sale at $25 per chip if you buy over 1000 of these. The hard drive of the future? If it’s as fast as RAM, it could well be.
Via MSNBC
Freescale Semiconductor Inc. have announced the availability of a memory chip much like RAM that will retain it’s memory (unlike RAM) when powered down, combining the super-fast speed of RAM with the practicality of the good old (but slow) hard drive. The chips called MRAM, or Magnetoresistive Random-Access Memory, use a magnetic field to store their data rather than electrical charge, which traditional RAM uses.
So why is this a breakthrough? My pen drive can do this. Well, flash memory can keep data without power but is much slower than MRAM. MRAM has the speed of the RAM in your PC, and considering this RAM is storing the data from this webpage in your browser right now, it is very very fast compared to flash memory or hard drives. MRAM is fast to read and write bits, and as an added bonus doesn’t degrade over time whereas hard drives unfortunately do; often taking gigabytes of data with them. Freescale Semiconductor Inc. announced that it has been making the MRAM chips for just over 2 months in order to build up supply, and now MRAM is available for commercial sale at $25 per chip if you buy over 1000 of these. The hard drive of the future? If it’s as fast as RAM, it could well be.
Via MSNBC