New Memory Chips Will Melt And Freeze Tiny Crystals

Samsung Electronics, South Korea, has begun production on a brand new type of memory chip for computers that will melt and freeze tiny crystals in a process called phase-change memory (PCM). These chips will store electronic information in a crystalline cell, which would allow machines to be turned on and off instantly because the PCM data stored in the crystals would be frozen in place.

This approach to computer memory will gain popularity because it's counterpart, solid memory storage (like flash memory) becomes less stable at very tiny scales. PCM memory doesn't rely on the charge of electrons. In recent experiments, PCM memory actually improves the smaller it becomes, because it's speed is linked to the size of it's crystals. In recent experiments these crystals could be engaged (from a off to on state -- melt and refreeze the crystal ) in just 16 nanoseconds. This is far faster than existing technology.