Matrix 3D memory is World's Smallest 183
nokiator writes "Most of the headlines about cool new high density memory technology are from DRAM or Flash manufacturers these days. Matrix Semiconductor, a small Silicon Valley start-up, broke the trend today and announced that the world's smallest 1-Gbit memory chip. Matrix's chip is an antifuse-based one-time programmable ROM. The total die area of the 1Gb chip is 31 square millimeters (smaller than the blue/red pills in the Matrix movie). Matrix claims that they can achieve this density through a proprietary 3D circuit technology that combines 150nm and 130nm process geometries. When Matrix moves to 90nm process technology, it should be possible to manufacture a 8Gb memory chip on a reasonable sized (i.e. cheap) die. There are many potential applications of this kind of low cost, very high density ROM technology, mostly in content distribution area. One 8Gb ROM chip would have sufficient storage capacity to store the contents of an entire movie using H.264 encoding."
Sweet! (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyone else have any good ideas for this chip?
P.S. Definition of an antifuse [wikipedia.org]. Usually the type of thing you only learn about when you're playing with FPGAs [wikipedia.org], ASICs [wikipedia.org], and CPLDs [wikipedia.org]. (The "history of programmable hardware" book that comes with Xilinx's Starter kit [xilinx.com] gives a good overview of the different technologies including antifuse chips.)
P.P.S. If I'm doing my math right, 1-GBit of memory is ~119 megabytes. 128 megabytes if you're calculating 1-GBit == 2^30.
Re:Sweet! (Score:1)
Re:Sweet! (Score:2)
Re:Sweet! (Score:2)
tell you what, I'll work on the storage medium, you work on the interface, deal?
Re:Sweet! (Score:1)
Re:Sweet! (Score:2)
These things are tiny too. If you make a cartridge-sized one (even of the lower density variety) you can have a LOT of storage.
Re:Sweet! (Score:4, Informative)
A better arrangement would be to make a 5" (127mm) square cartridge to fit in the same stackable region as a 5" circle. That gives you 520 of these chips. 520*128MB=65GB, which is better than Blu-Ray, and nowhere near as fragile.
And that's on their current process, which is apparently a blend of 130nm and 150nm. Wait until they shrink that down a bit.
Data density in the world has just gone up.
Re:Sweet! (Score:2)
Revenge of the rubics cube, encrypt your sensible data by physically scrambling it!
Re:Sweet! (Score:3, Interesting)
If you read the post I linked to, the idea was to bring back classic gaming at a low price point, not compete with today's games. I was originally thinking games along the lines of Duke Nukem II [mobygames.com] and Halloween Harry [mobygames.com]. But with this chip, we could jump all the way to Super Wing Commander [wcnews.com]! (With better voice acting, of course.)
You have to think out of the (X)box (Score:1)
128 megabytes is very small compared to the size of games today.
GBA and Nintendo DS games are no bigger than 32 MBytes, and the UMD dumps of PSP games are about 128 to 512 MBytes.
Re:Sweet! (Score:2)
Are you on crack?! The Police Academy series alone would take up three of these chips!
Re:Sweet! (Score:5, Interesting)
For classic gaming maybe, for portable gaming sure. but you'll never get the price of solid state memory below the cost of optical storage. you can deal with the problems optical storage has currently by moving the laser beam with microscopic mirrors, rather than trying to spin the media. The problem with optical media is and was that they used design principals that work great for Magnetic media, and tried to pair that technology with optical storage. Since light can move exponetially faster (light can be moved to read 299,792,458 meters of data per second) than any physical device, it makes massively more sense to move the light, rather than the media or the laser. At current data densities.. that means the entire content of a DVD-rom would be read in 1/19933rds of a second. In other words, you'd have a 14,351,760x DVD-rom if instead of moving the DVD you move the laser light, and managed to move the laser light at the speed of light. There are of course scienitific limitations that prevent us from manipulating a beam of light in order so that it is redirected at the speed of light, but the theoretical limits of rotational speeds for DVD media are being reached. You can probabbly spin them faster than 16X, I seem to recall that at 1x a DVD-rom is moving the disc at the same rotational speed as 4x cdrom would be rotating and cd-roms got as high as 52x before cheaper media began fragmenting in peoples drives..
So what would you rather be capped with? 18x dvd-rom drives? or not have to worry about the engineering limitations until you can figure out a way to reach 14,351,760x?
Note: to those wondering, I based my calculations on the assumption that a dvd-rom has 4.7 billion bytes or 37.6 billion pits
Re:Sweet! (Score:1)
Re:Sweet! (Score:4, Informative)
A point of light can be moved as fast or as slow as you want it to be. Aim a laser at the moon, now sweep it across the moon as fast as you want. Poof! The "spot" of light just moved across the moon at 18 times the speed of light... no problem.
No, the real limitation to the speed at which light can be moved along a medium has more to do with how long the spot of light must be focused on each point on the medium for enough photons to reflect back to be read. The faster you sweep your laser across a surface, the more dimly that surface is illuminated.
(At the limit, you're moving the spot of light faster than the rate photons are being emitted, although at 1 Watt that's something like 10^20 photons per second. If you need at least 10 photons per nanometer, say, you can do the math to find your maximum speed.)
Re:Sweet! (Score:2)
I was just about to say this, and let me add that this is consistent with Relativity, as long as you're not moving energy or information from one place to another faster than at c. In this case you're moving information/energy from the laser to the Moon, not betwe
Exponential? (Score:2, Informative)
It is faster, but where have you pulled this exponential crap out of? You can have an exponential relationship between two variables. The speed of light vs the linear speed of a DVD has SFA to do exponents. It makes you sound like you have no clue.
Big number =! exponential.
Fragmenting media? (Score:2)
Didn't someone get some mechanical engineering testbench equipment and figure out that CDs didn't start to fragment until 100,000X or something insane like that?
--grendel drago
Re:Fragmenting media? (Score:2)
He said nothing really bad happened, just a very wierd, loud noise and the tower shook a bit. So, yes, they actually can fragment at lower speeds - at least when they're damaged as the said disk most likely was.
Re:Sweet! (Score:3, Interesting)
You know, it's funny: I remember someone saying exactly the converse of this to me about fifteen years ago, when NeXT adopted the laserdisc as a standard storage mechanism for the Cube, back when ROM was considered cheap.
The older you get, the less likely you are to use the word never, especially in regards to the future.
Re:Sweet! - you;re forgetting one thing (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Sweet! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Sweet! (Score:2)
Re:Sweet! (Score:2)
About 2 years ago, Nintendo dumped a few million dollars into this company. Outside of being a useful technology on its own, it's basically being developed so that Nintendo can continue to use cartridges for their handheld consoles.
Remember how the DS has a maximum cartridge size of 1GBit? Yet nothing out now currently uses that? Hmm... awful convenient...
Anyway, that's exactly what it's being used for -- portable game consoles. No doubt it will wor
Music distribution (Score:2)
Re:Sweet! (Score:2)
I told you then and I'm telling you now: this is the brand of FROM that the Nintendo DS uses.
Now, with an infinitely redundant power supply (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Now, with an infinitely redundant power supply (Score:5, Informative)
Except for the fact that this is ROM. It makes use of antifuse technolgy which works a lot like fuse technology. The idea in fuse technology is that you blow the pathways you don't want, thus creating the circut. With antifuse technology, the fuses don't normally conduct electricity so you have to blow the fuse to create pathways.
Info [wikipedia.org]
Re:Now, with an infinitely redundant power supply (Score:1)
Oh good (Score:5, Funny)
The total die area of the 1Gb chip is 31 square millimeters (smaller than the blue/red pills in the Matrix movie).
Just what I always wanted - another unit of measurement. How many millifootballfields is one blue pill? What can this chip hold in terms of LibrariesOfCongress-per-BluePill?
Re:Oh good (Score:2)
Re:Oh good (Score:2)
At which Er? Si, GaAs, InP, Alumina, Quartz... or air?
Paul B.
Re:Oh good (Score:1)
Re:Oh good (Score:2)
I've no idea but they have a mass of about 7.3 nanoelephants.
USB Linux-on-ROM (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh, and it's OTP? You mean, like CD-Rs and DVD-Rs?
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
Worst job ever (Score:2)
Nice....... (Score:3, Interesting)
Not just ROM's (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not just ROM's (Score:1)
Re:Not just ROM's (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Not just ROM's (Score:2)
Re:Not just ROM's (Score:1)
Re:Not just ROM's (Score:2)
You're worried about the CPU consumption? Pff! Have you seen GPU consumption lately?
Seriously though, there's never been a case of a programmer being a standard piece of PC hardware. I seriously doubt this chip will change that.
Re:Not just ROM's (Score:1)
Granted, flash memory made PROM and EPROM BIOS obsolete. Heck...I sometimes wonder if they need the battery backup for anything more than the system clock these days.
Re:Not just ROM's (Score:2)
A few things come to mind:
1. The process is *slow*. It's not exactly going to compete with CD/DVD burning. Or floppy disk writing in the old days. Or even worse, writing to tape!
2. In the old days, that WAS a lot of power to be pushing around a computer.
3. There's always the possibility that the chip could go bad during a write. If it does, any previous data you stored is n
Re:Not just ROM's (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Not just ROM's (Score:3, Informative)
But more to the point, did you RTFA? This is anti-fuse technology, ie it cannot be re-written. I guess you could have certain chunks of data that you need to reference again and again that won't change, but for that limited use why would you ever muck up your architecture?
Re:Not just ROM's (Score:2)
The point was asking if the hybrid scaling and segmented word line techniques could be applied to other memory types, unless there's an inherent physical impossibility (hence the question... I know they made ROMs... again, hence the question) in which volitale memory can't be made using the same techniques. It's a manufacturing process...
Why am I asking? I assumed the process for making the memory was pretty much
Re:Not just ROM's (Score:2)
1) As you said, it's too slow. CPU cache is incredibly fast (because it doesn't need to be non-volatile).
2) You can only write it once.
3) All flash memory seems to have a limit to the number of writes before it screws up. Given how often the cache gets changed in a CPU, it really wouldn't last long.
Code named... (Score:1)
-Foxxz
Re:Code named... (Score:2)
"I think Pringles initial intention was to make tennis balls. But on the day that the rubber was supposed to show up, a big truckload of potatoes arrived. But Pringles is a laid back company. They said 'Fuck it. Cut em up.'" Mitch Hedberg
Matrix memory? (Score:1)
Density is fine, but speed ? (Score:5, Informative)
Secondly it is antifuse-based one-time programmable ROM. It is NOT a flash which can be re-written 100,000 times. So it is more useful for storing application code but not for data storage etc.
Antifuse base memories are diode like and can be much smaller than regular FLASH memories. But these are inherently slower and also don't have any gain element (like transistor). This requires careful design to achieve good signal-to-noise ration for memory read operation
More aggressive 3D technology was demonstrated by IBM [ibm.com] last year where they have circuits in 3D.
A startup R-cube logic [r3logic.com] is also designing 3D microprocessor where memory is put on top of the logic core to reduce latency.
Xanoptics [xanoptics.com] is more into hybrid design (mixed analog, RF, optics) on a single footprint.
Re:Density is fine, but speed ? (Score:3, Interesting)
Sounds great for something like a handheld video game system off the top of my head though. Handheld games are really hurting right now for need of some kind of compromise between hi-latency powerhungry high-capacity discs and low-latency power-cheap low-capacity ROM cartridges...
Some foresight required (Score:3, Insightful)
Great, more disposable consumer things. There are many great uses for such a memory config, but the world does not need more disposable devices...
Re:Some foresight required (Score:1)
if you are going to shell out the price of prerecorded media you are unlikely to want to record over it thus destroying most of your outlay (blank media is comparatively cheap in most cases by comparision)
Re:Some foresight required (Score:2)
Ok, mister enviro-conservo-nut-job step away from the tofu and put all animal friendly artifacts down!
Now that I have your attention, I would think, as an (assumed) environmentalist you would welcome the miniturization of potentially landfill-filling consumer goods. After all, isn't some thing smaller than a pill going to cause a much smaller overall envir
Re:Some foresight required (Score:2)
How much energy do you think it takes to produce one of these ROM chips? Take into account shipping, handling, packaging...you know. Think of the production methods used to create these kinds of chiups: they're very messy, And all you can think of is "but it's miniature landfill"?
Grandparent poster's point is very valid: why consume those resources when you can just use some electrons/photons to transport the same data? Sure, this memorychip has i
Re:Some foresight required (Score:2)
This could actually be bad (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This could actually be bad (Score:1)
Re:This could actually be bad (Score:2)
H.264 (Score:3, Interesting)
I didn't know what it was right away, so ...
H.264 [wikipedia.org], or MPEG-4 Part 10, is a high compression digital video codec standard written by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) together with the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) as the product of a collective partnership effort known as the Joint Video Team (JVT). The ITU-T H.264 standard and the ISO/IEC MPEG-4 Part 10 standard (formally, ISO/IEC 14496-10) are technically identical, and the technology is also known as AVC, for Advanced Video Coding. The final drafting work on the first version of the standard was completed in May of 2003.
Now, all we need are 3D Processors and RAM (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, if we could only get this in RAM! I'm looking for an upgrade, and my computer case is only so big!
Yes, for some reason, people do seem to mix up the bits and bytes, for example: Most file sizes are in bytes, to make them seem smaller, and connection speeds are in bits, to make them seem faster!*
*Actually, this probably isn't the "official" reason, but it makes sense!
Re:Now, all we need are 3D Processors and RAM (Score:1)
Connection speeds are usually measured in bits (actually bits/second) because they tend to be serial.
Fair assumption, though.
Re:Now, all we need are 3D Processors and RAM (Score:3, Insightful)
Not fast...slow (Score:1, Funny)
Long time in the making...but worth it... (Score:4, Interesting)
Earlier posters were correct in stating that it's not a complete replacement for flash (yet?) but there are still many very cool potential applications: Game cartridges (much faster access time than CDs/DVDs), toys (i.e. a supercharged Furby with a massive vocabulary), replacement for CDs/DVDs, archival digital "film", etc.
I really like the idea of a kiosk that houses blank Matrix 3DM cards and loads of digital content. You could walk up to the kiosk and buy a game/software/movie/album/book, have it programmed right then and there, and walk away with your customized content in a few minutes. These kiosks could be everywhere...gas stations, grocery stores, etc. Extremely convenient for consumers, plus it would seriously cut down the overhead for retailers since they wouldn't need to keep inventory or have huge stores to house thousands of DVDs, etc.
Re:Long time in the making...but worth it... (Score:2)
Unless you have some way of making it completely secure, authenticated, and with no removable money, you'll have another Nintendo FDS Disk Writer fiasco.
Re:Long time in the making...but worth it... (Score:2, Insightful)
In other news... (Score:1)
Matrix memory is for DS games (Score:2, Informative)
You're on the right track, given this press release [nanoinvestornews.com], but you misspelled "Nintendo DS".
I see we have a new unit of measurement (Score:2)
and for physical dimensions we now have "matrix red/blue pills". Interestingly, my mobile phone is exactly 67.4 Matrix Pills in total area.
So then the followup question (Score:2)
Jack in (Score:1)
Gb somewhat aloof measurement? (Score:3, Insightful)
When I see 1 Gb I have to think for a second to get to 128 MB.
Re:Gb somewhat aloof measurement? (Score:3, Informative)
Bytes are not always the same size; bits are.
Re:Gb somewhat aloof measurement? (Score:2)
2) Not all data streams are byte or even fixed-unit oriented.
3) It's really a remnant from baud vs bps, where baud was once a useful measurement but became less and then not so.
31 mm movies (Score:3, Funny)
HOST: What m&m's? I don't have any m&m's.
GUEST: In the bowl... on top of the tv...?
HOST: Aaaaaaargh! That's my movie collection, nimrod!
Smallest memory (Score:5, Funny)
YAY OS on a ROM - retro revival (Score:1)
Roll on 3D holographic cubes for ROM storage, ready by laser
Re:but .. (Score:2, Interesting)
Good Gawd! (Score:2)
Motherboards (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Motherboards (Score:2)
You'd be limited to a certain number of BIOS upgrades (10? 100?), but if the upgrade fails, you could get back to the last version.
Cool (Score:2, Interesting)
Videogames, anyone? (Score:2)
obligatory ... (Score:2, Funny)
they need better marketers (Score:2)
Um, seeing as how 2.5+ hours of video compressed with mpeg2 encoding can fit on a *4* Gb dvd, and H264 is a large improvement on mpeg2, it would seem that the above statement is rather modest. I'd bet that eight movies could be stored in H264 on an 8Gb chip.
on board base OS (Score:3, Interesting)
Rant begins. If we had ultra fast, high density ROM chips like this it might be nice to put the core of an OS onto the chip and only use the harddrive (or large RAM) for updated components. A new 'Windows' or 'Linux' system would be inserted into a little cube-tray on your computer . All your 3rd party applications would be left on the hard disk. Hrmm, or, the software could also be purchased on cubes like this. Maybe we end up with a daisy chain of USB2 attached cubes, or a cube-tray, each representing a DVD sized 3rd party application. This sounds more attuned to commercial software. Rant over.
Re:one movie? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:one movie? (Score:3, Informative)
Check your math.
Re:one movie? (Score:1)
Re:one movie? (Score:1)
Re:one movie? (Score:1)
Amusing (Score:3, Funny)
Allow me to be the first to say... (Score:0, Redundant)
Re:Amusing (Score:2)
Re:Matrix 3D? Where's the originality? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Matrix 3D? Where's the originality? (Score:2)
HOMER
This industry moves so fast it's really hard to tell. That's why I need a name that's cutting-edge, like CutCo, EdgeCom, InterSlice... come on, Marge, you're good at these! Help me out!
MARGE
How about... CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet?
Seriously though, they use consultants now to come up with these awful generic names for companies. It isn't much different than how they come up with names for new drugs. They just use a list of prefixes and suffixes that vaugly sound like the product or
Re:Revolution (Score:2)