Speaking at a keynote today, Intel and Micron announced the development of the first new category of non-volatile memory process technology in 25 years since the production of NAND flash in 1989. Designated as 3D XPoint, the technology is reputedly 1,000 faster, with 1,000 times more endurance, than the NAND architecture that underlies flash memory in contemporary solid state drives.
The 3D XPoint does away with transistors altogether, favoring a new cross-point architecture in which word lines and bit lines are arranged in a checkboard-like pattern with memory cells layered at the intersection to produce 10 times the density of conventional memory. Consequently, data is written and read in much small increments, resulting in faster and more efficient read/write processes.
“One of the most significant hurdles in modern computing is the time it takes the processor to reach data on long-term storage,” said Mark Adams, president of Micron. “This new class of non-volatile memory is a revolutionary technology that allows for quick access to enormous data sets and enables entirely new applications.”
The future proliferation of 3D XPoint is set to have a drastic impact on connected devices and the big data they generate, allowing faster than ever before storage and analysis of massive quantities of information and alleviating the growing challenges design engineers face of balancing performance, cost, and power.
On a product-level, consumers will reap the benefits of faster response time on all products involving data recollection, from mobile devices to all forms of computers. But because of the memory’s durability and non-volatile aspect, it’ll likely be a key part of long-term storage solutions. Worth noting, however, is that because the technology is so new (and the complete details remain sparse), its limitations remain unclear.
Source: Intel
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