Date: 27/01/2011

Researchers develop single memory chip for system and content storage

SRAM is faster than DRAM, that's the reason it is used as cache memory for processors. Where as DRAM is slower but still faster than NOR flash and so they are the next level of system memory in computers. SRAM and DRAM can't store the data when power is switched off. Due to the non-volatile and speed requirements, present digital systems require all SRAM, DRAM and flash memory. But if a single memory device offers the benefit of both speed of access as well as non-volatility, it saves lot of resources and improves the performance of computing devices. The single unified memory chip can store the data during power off (called non-volatile) and also responds as fast as SRAM/DRAM.

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed one such unified memory device which enables instant on computers.

Dr. Paul Franzon, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and his co-researchers have developed a device called double floating-gate field effect transistor (FET).
Generally, FET of solid state semiconductor memory uses single gate, but here the two gates are used to store volatile binary bit as well as for storing non-volatile binary bit. This device saves effort in complex system programming and clears memory relates bottlenecks from servers to embedded systems.

To know more read the paper titled "Computing with Novel Floating-Gate Devices," which will be published in Feb. 10 issue of IEEE's Computer. The paper was authored by Franzon; former NC State Ph.D. student Daniel Schinke; former NC State master's student Mihir Shiveshwarkar; and Dr. Neil Di Spigna, a research assistant professor at NC State.
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