"Self-Healing" NAND Flash Memory That Can Survive Over 100 Million Cycles 76
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...
Re:800C? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:800C? (Score:4, Insightful)
You do realize that Incandescent light bulbs are at 3000K or so.
I do. Do you realize that congress isn't exactly known for its firm grasp of science? Remember... they banned people from carrying more than a couple ounces of liquids out of fear they could be used to create binary explosives because that was the plot of a Die Hard movie, not because there was any evidence terrorists had any plans of using it, or that it would even provide the explosive force necessary. As a result, people flying home after surgery have had their ice packs confinscated, they've been forced to put diabetic pumps through metal detectors and body scanners (rendering them inoperative and posing an immediate threat to the life of the passenger), etc.
So I posed the question to underscore the line of questioning that average person would have about such devices.... and instead I have my intelligence insulted. No matter how correct you may be, that is not an excuse for poor form.