Double-floating-gate FET, could revolutionize computer memory

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfvzQDxbL39AyOOe-Rs8T2sNIPfMN4aZG1ezzDfNoFJyX5HFUpxMlpZeiwbS6l4K_aC37RD3Q9nejmGKQSLnQ6422qcJ-rAw-0wTMQ-uWAZeOmiQVFn6qpT70tPq-aQNeaBgIqxVf6ylx/s1600/1-22-11-double-floating-gate-fet-220.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfvzQDxbL39AyOOe-Rs8T2sNIPfMN4aZG1ezzDfNoFJyX5HFUpxMlpZeiwbS6l4K_aC37RD3Q9nejmGKQSLnQ6422qcJ-rAw-0wTMQ-uWAZeOmiQVFn6qpT70tPq-aQNeaBgIqxVf6ylx/s1600/1-22-11-double-floating-gate-fet-220.jpg" /></a></div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">Look, we get it, you want DRAM that behaves like flash, flash that behaves like DRAM, and everything in between; speedy computer memory that doesn't lose its data when the power goes off, and lasts for years on end. </span><br /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;"><br /> </span></span><br /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;">Well, it looks there's a new challenger about to</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;">enter that ring;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;"> double floating-gate field effect transistors, currently in prototype form at North Carolina State University. Whereas the single floating-gate variety is currently responsible for the flash memory in your USB keys and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;">SSDs</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;">, the second floating gate lets bits of data stay in an active, ready state, but the computer can also apply a higher voltage to "freeze" them in place. Since the memory can switch between static and dynamic modes in a single cycle and the data never disappears in between, researchers imagine the new tech could lead to instant-on computers and power-saving techniques that shut down idle memory banks.</span></span><br /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;"><br /> </span></span><br /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In operation, computers using the double floating-gate FETs for their main memory can operate normally until they become idle, at which time their data values can be transferred to the second gate in order to power down the memory chip. Then when the stored values need to be accessed again by the computer, the second gate quickly transfers their stored charge back to the first gate and normal operations can resume.</span><br style="height: 5px;" /><br style="height: 5px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"We believe our new memory device will enable power-proportional computing, by allowing memory to be turned off during periods of low use without affecting performance,"</i><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">said Franzon.</span></span></span></span></span><br /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /> </span></span></span></span></span><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNNsaqt2fYlIZhic4FaALluRrAFLl8e7iTCwgQSNpWPU-zH1Rr_47xJo7UFoKrQcb77OlwEJToUasdiNci2SLK14wiZB9h3nafyy8FWz4RihIXxxmsqpZ0n070XkrQx9jVViG2K5tOqHNE/s1600/110120_rcjDoubeGate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNNsaqt2fYlIZhic4FaALluRrAFLl8e7iTCwgQSNpWPU-zH1Rr_47xJo7UFoKrQcb77OlwEJToUasdiNci2SLK14wiZB9h3nafyy8FWz4RihIXxxmsqpZ0n070XkrQx9jVViG2K5tOqHNE/s320/110120_rcjDoubeGate.jpg" width="182" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="height: 5px;" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So far the researchers have only built the gate structures in their new FET design and are currently performing cycling testing to make sure that memories stored and retrieved from the floating gates do not cause fatigue that could eventually wear out the devices. Flash, for instance, uses voltages so high during hot-carrier injection that devices can only survive about 10,000 read/write cycles. Double floating-gate FETs use lower voltages, but only cycling testing can determine whether the devices experience excessive fatigue.</span></span></span><br /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; line-height: 16px;"><br style="height: 5px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If the test devices pass cycle testing, then the researchers' next step will be to fabricate real semiconductor memories out of them—a task the researchers hope to perform by next year. Also working on the project was Neil Spigna, a research assistant professor at NC State and doctoral candidates Daniel Schinke and Mihir Shiveshwarkar. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation.</span></span></span><br /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;"><br /> </span></span><br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; line-height: 19px;">Source <a href="http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/wmsfranzondfg/">here</a>.</span></span></div>

  Look, we get it, you want DRAM that behaves like flash, flash that behaves like DRAM, and everything in between; speedy computer memory th...

Read more »

OCZ to quit the DRAM market and Focus on the SSD market.

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8-yQkZhKvALA7brYiNj07D7W3CjYt7FbFuEk2Ld6ITlGHE9VZOoBH7saoVPnH19PWPN2LS_7xXv0lzP3dWFHCIJZ7r1gqlZKlb4Vk6SAOvBXyCQrEg9JCq2a8eiB3_ezv7u8dWpaPMQA8/s1600/ocz-ddr-gold-gammer-dual.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8-yQkZhKvALA7brYiNj07D7W3CjYt7FbFuEk2Ld6ITlGHE9VZOoBH7saoVPnH19PWPN2LS_7xXv0lzP3dWFHCIJZ7r1gqlZKlb4Vk6SAOvBXyCQrEg9JCq2a8eiB3_ezv7u8dWpaPMQA8/s1600/ocz-ddr-gold-gammer-dual.jpg" /></a></div><br /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /> </span><br /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">OCZ reports it will be creasing all future DRAM development to focus heavily on its successful SSD venture.</span><br /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /> </span><br /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"></span><br /> <div style="font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The company released this statement. </div><div style="font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br /> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">“The board has determined that it is in the best interests of the stockholders to accelerate plans to discontinue its remaining DRAM module products by the end of its current fiscal year of February 28, 2011. Accordingly, our DRAM products are now expected to have minimal, if any, sales in the next fiscal year and beyond.”</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br class="spacer_" /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">“Revenue generated from our Solid State Drive products for the third fiscal quarter more than doubled on a sequential basis,” said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology. “SSD revenue accounted for 78-percent of our revenue and just by itself exceeds our historical quarterly revenue totals across all categories, thus reinforcing our decision to discontinue our remaining DRAM products.”</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br class="spacer_" /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiASbnGLDvNhPLX-c_Q6H38k94Nyl-pURit1AmLGc6ZwcwqIP-mhU9UqjWC9Iyc2rhr8t5h8w3M-hkHFb11yFBaBlGpUuakmzXYOAaWd4Q4vqRUeWtZZRy3MJ6e_GZ6UVYegygwstbQ9BFD/s1600/ocz-ssd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiASbnGLDvNhPLX-c_Q6H38k94Nyl-pURit1AmLGc6ZwcwqIP-mhU9UqjWC9Iyc2rhr8t5h8w3M-hkHFb11yFBaBlGpUuakmzXYOAaWd4Q4vqRUeWtZZRy3MJ6e_GZ6UVYegygwstbQ9BFD/s1600/ocz-ssd.jpg" /></a></div>OCZ Technology was founded in 2002 as a memory company, as was a key player in the rapid development and launch of SSDs</div><br /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Source <a href="http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/news/web-business/ocz-ceasing-memory-operations-focus-ssds/">here</a>.</span><br /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /> </span>

OCZ reports it will be creasing all future DRAM development to focus heavily on its successful SSD venture. The company released this...

Read more »