"Self-Healing" NAND Flash Memory That Can Survive Over 100 Million Cycles

another random user writes with an interesting use of 800C heating elements to keep flash working longer. It's long been known that heating NAND to temperatures around 250C can restore life, but doing so was practically impossible. From the article: "Engineers at Macronix have a solution that moves flash memory over to a new life. ... They redesigned a flash memory chip to include onboard heaters to anneal small groups of memory cells. Applying a brief jolt of heat to a very restricted area within the chip (800 degrees C) returns the cell to a 'good' state. ... According to project member HangTing Lue, the annealing can be done infrequently and on one sector at a time while the device is inactive but still connected to the power source. It would not drain a cellphone battery, he added." It's still a long way from commercialization, but if it works on a small scale...

cant wait

[Anonymous Coward]

I cant wait for the first YouTube guide telling they should put flash memory in the oven to fix it. That will translate into baking cellphones ... and you know someone will try it.

Re:High temp but low energy

[KIFulgore]

That's a good point... I've read a lot of comments from people freaking out about being able to bring these on a plane.

I was once boarding a plane and accidentally scuffed my feet across the carpet. I brushed my hand by someone else and triggered a static arc that must have been close to 50,000 degrees. The plane was still able to take off. True story.