Move Over MRAM, Say Bye Bye DRAM, It’s Time For ULTRARAM

Source: The Register Move Over MRAM, Say Bye Bye DRAM, It’s Time For ULTRARAM

Lower Power, Higher Speed And Nonvolatile To Boot!

If it ever arrives on the market, ULTRARAM is certainly well named as it consumes 1% of the power of current DRAM and will match or beat the current frequencies at which it operates.  The process by which they manage this does ring some alarm bells as it contains the word ‘quantum’, which in today’s world is as meaningful as describing something as powered by AI.  On the other hand making use of quantum resonant tunnelling is theoretically feasible, though it requires some very expensive materials to make use of.

In this case they would use the effect to switch electron barriers from opaque to transparent by applying a small voltage, a process which is very quick and very energy efficient.  As The Register points out, it is the decrease in energy costs which may make this design more attractive to data centres than FeRAM, PCM or MRAM.

A new type of memory that could make computers and smartphones far more energy-efficient, if it ever reaches production, has been developed at the UK's University of Lancaster.

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Jeremy Hellstrom

Call it K7M.com, AMDMB.com, or PC Perspective, Jeremy has been hanging out and then working with the gang here for years. Apart from the front page you might find him on the BOINC Forums or possibly the Fraggin' Frogs if he has the time.

5 Comments

  1. ryan

    Since when did quantum mean powered by AI? You made that up.

    Reply
    • Jeremy Hellstrom

      I think you missed my joke.

      Reply
    • Caleb Cooley

      Quantum you say? This is many many years away from the mainstream. This might as well be vapour. Sounds way too expensive and complicated to easily replace dram. I got your joke, only it wasn’t really a joke. It was more of a fact. I’ve heard the term Ai be used for just about everything.

      Reply
      • Jeremy Hellstrom

        Exactly! Same thing goes for quantum now too.

        Reply
      • Potatonoot

        It could be similar to how SSD entered the market and changed a lot. Started insanely expensive, then slowly got cheaper and then comes to the hands of the consumers.

        Patience will bring it. It can work as both ram and boot drive, and is even faster than DDR4 ram, uses less power, and is still at its infancy. Actually maybe fetus.

        Reply

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