The current generation of flash memory is manufactured on 19/20nm technology and according to IMEC shrinking of this technology combined with stacking is likely to make it possible to manufacture for a couple of more generations all the way down to 11nm.
At the same time stacking technology will improve allowing 3D-chips with up to 16 layers that is equivalent to a total capacity of around 2 Tb. First when we get beyond the 11nm node will we in all seriousness see alternative memory technologies go mainstream. These will be technologies that in one way or another are based on changing the resistance of the material used for storing the bits.
Whether you call it memristor or phase change memory the underlying idea is that different resistance levels decide whether you are storing a binary 0 or 1.
Also resistive memory should eventually be able to take on DDR since it is getting faster and faster. Compared to flash it has a longer longevity and is bit addressable making it possible to create a uniform memory structure instead of 2 distinctly different structures based on flash and DDR.
Now all we need is for them there software guys to get up to speed and start developing for a unified architecture.S|A
Mads Ølholm
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