The conclusion is that it becomes difficult to reduce still further the fine print and therefore more difficult to provide greater capacity. The founder of the research were then oriented technology "scalable" in several layers. Intel and Numonyx speak Memory Phase Change: PCM for Phase Change Memory, a new technology for nonvolatile memory.

The announcement of the day on matrices multilayer PCM memory cells. Researchers conducted the first demonstration of a test chip of 64 MB which are stacked layers of matrices (arrays) of PCM. The advantages of this type of memory are threefold: greater capacity, lower consumption and small footprint. The chip is shown a memory cell to vertical integration, called PCMS for Phase Change Memory and Switch. It consists of a PCM element and a layer of switching OTS (Ovonic Threshold Switch) to form a matrix of points of intersection (cross point array). Coming to stack layers of PCMS, we managed to denser memory while retaining the performance characteristics of PCM, something increasingly difficult to obtain with conventional memory technologies.

More detailed and more technical, we may see as memory cells consisting of a storage element and a selector, stacked and grouped into matrices. Intel and Numonyx are able to develop a selector OTS thin layer and two terminals, including physical and electrical properties are consistent with the PCM when it multiplies the number. With the compatibility of PCMS thin layer, we can now get multiple layers of memory arrays of intersections. After integration into a real matrix of crossing points, stacked arrays are associated with CMOS circuitry for decoding functions, capture and logic.

Intel tells us that we find more information on the new memory cell, the matrix cross-points on the experience and results in a joint paper entitled "A Cross Point Stackable Phase Change Memory", which will be presented at the 2009 edition of the International Electron Devices Meeting, Baltimore (Maryland), December 9.

Regarding this development, Al Fazio, Intel Fellow and Director, Memory Technology Development at Intel says: "We continue to expand the pipeline to the memory technology to advance the platform. The results of this research encourage us in our work because we believe that future memory technologies such as that of PCMS are essential for strengthening the role of memory in the solutions and to expand opportunities for gains in performance and sizing in this area. "

For his part, Greg Atwood, Senior Technology Fellow at Numonyx said: "These results are extremely promising. They show the potential for denser memory arrays and scalable as well as the potential use of PCM products as NAND. But this is a very important because conventional technologies of flash memory are subjected to certain physical limitations and reliability problems, even as demand continues to increase memory at all levels, mobile phones up data centers. "

As with any new technology, the first practical applications are not ready to emerge and it will take many years to finalize, as well it will cope with alternative technologies are also developing.