HP Reports Memory Resistor Breakthrough

andy1307 writes "Hewlett-Packard scientists on Thursday will report advances demonstrating significant progress in the design of memristors, or memory resistors. The researchers previously reported in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they had devised a new method for storing and retrieving information from a vast three-dimensional array of memristors. The scheme could potentially free designers to stack thousands of switches on top of one another in a high-rise fashion, permitting a new class of ultra-dense computing devices even after two-dimensional scaling reaches fundamental limits."

Re:Heat?

[mswhippingboy]

According to TFA, the intended use for this is memory devices (possibly a follow-on to flash memory). Since it can retain it's state even without power, it would seem that this would result in an extremely low power device which should produce very low heat.

Re:Heat?

[HiThere]

Yes. Memristors don't require that power be applied in order to retain memory state. Heat might limit write and retrieval rate, but it wouldn't limit the number of layers. I suspect that it might make heat pipes built into the memory boards to be a highly desirable option, but that would be to enable faster access, not to allow a greater number of layers.

Re:Heat?

[DJRumpy]

It's more than that. This could have huge implications for no-power flash storage, and it has lower power requirements than the phase-change memory that is currently the top dog. I'm also curious about the 'data processing' blurb in TFA:

"They are simpler than today’s semiconducting transistors, can store information even in the absence of an electrical current and, according to a report in Nature, can be used for both data processing and storage applications."

"He said the company could have a competitor to flash memory in three years that would have a capacity of 20 gigabytes a square centimeter."

"The new material offers an approach that is radically different from a promising type of storage called “phase-change memory” being pursued by I.B.M., Intel and other companies. In a phase-change memory, heat is used to shift a glassy material from an amorphous to a crystalline state and back. The switching speed of these systems is slower and requires more power, the H.P. scientists say."

Re:Research! YES!

[Anonymous Coward]

Why'd you post this anonymously? It was worth putting your (user)name on.

Re:20 gigabytes a square centimeter?

[Anonymous Coward]

Starts getting impressive when you stack those square cm layers. Something you can't do with conventional flash.