The promise of OTS-only memories for next-gen compute

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For several decades, the semiconductor industry has been looking for alternative memory technologies to fill the gap between dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), the compute system's main memory, and NAND flash–the system's storage medium–in traditional high-performance computing system architectures.

www.edn.com/, Mar. 05, 2024 – 

Such an alternative memory–historically referred to as storage class memory–should outperform DRAM in terms of density and cost and, at the same time, be accessible much faster than NAND flash. The demand for these memories has recently been fueled by a surge in data-intensive applications like generative AI, requiring vast amounts of data to be accessed quickly.

The 1-PCM/1-OTS device: An intermediate solution

Around 2015, the answer came from a new type of non-volatile memory technology, called 3D XPoint, with phase-change memory (PCM) cells arranged at the 'cross points' of word and bit lines. PCM memory cells are made of chalcogenide 'phase-change' materials, such as germanium antimony telluride (GeSbTe), sandwiched between two electrodes. The material can quickly and reversibly switch between a high-conductive crystalline phase and a low-conductive amorphous phase, and this resistance contrast is used to store information.

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