What is it? Ultraram
Scientists may have developed one type of memory to rule them all
A potentially revolutionary form of storage technology that combines the best of RAM in computers and flash memory found in SSDS.
How do those two types of memory differ?
It’s all to do with volatility. Flash memory is non-volatile, which means it retains information after a device has been switched off. So, save something to an SSD and it’ll be there waiting for you the next time you switch it on. Volatile memory is the opposite, retaining information only while a device is switched on. RAM is volatile because it stores short-term data that you need as you work on your computer – helping you to switch between different tasks and programs – but loses it the moment you press the power-off button.
Which is better?
It’s not a case of which is better, because they perform different functions. Flash memory is used primarily for storage by SSDS, USB sticks and memory cards, while RAM performs calculations using the data retrieved from storage. But they each have specific strengths.
RAM is faster and uses less power, while flash memory retains data saved for longer (ie, until it’s deleted or degrades). Both are faster than older storage technologies, such as hard disk and tape. But Ultraram could make both obsolete by becoming a ‘universal’ memory type, so that in effect your storage (flash) would also be your memory (RAM). It would do this by coupling “the non-volatility of a data storage memory, like flash, with the speed, energy-efficiency, and endurance of a working memory” found in RAM.
Who said that?
The researchers at Lancaster University who developed the technology. It’s probably the part of their study ( www. snipca.com/40618) that’s easiest to understand. They also wrote that “extrapolated retention times in excess of 1,000 years and degradation-free endurance tests of over 10⁷ program-erase cycles prove that these memories are nonvolatile and have high endurance”.
Er, pardon?
It basically means that Ultraram might be able to preserve data for a thousand years without it corroding, and they helped to prove this by saving the data ten million times (10 to the power of 7, or 10⁷).
Will I understand how it works?
Not properly. Or not unless you have Phds in physics, engineering and computer science. Take a look at the image above, which shows the “floating gate, triple-barrier resonant-tunneling structure, and readout channel” in Ultraram. If you can match those words to the picture, you might be able to grasp the intricacies of the technology. If not, you’ll have to be satisfied by knowing that the researchers found a way to mass-produce on silicon the compound semiconductors – made from two or more elements – that are used in lightbased (or ‘photonic’) devices such as LEDS, lasers, and infrared detectors. But you won’t need to know any of that to benefit from Ultraram.
And will that be soon?
Afraid not. It’s too early even to say whether Ultraram will prove successful. Like many other ‘holy grail’ technologies (see also ‘What’s All the Fuss About?’ on RF Energy in Issue 623), several companies have already abandoned attempts to push ahead with similar methods of storage. For example Intel’s Optane SSDS (pictured left) blended flash memory and RAM, and were breathtakingly fast. But the company never found a way to make them cheaply enough so they could be sold at prices customers could afford, and stopped offering them to the public last year after just a few years. Hopefully Ultraram won’t prove to be a similar flash in the pan.