Phase Change Memory and Its Positive Influence on Flash Algorithms

NAND based Flash have scaling difficulties as chip lithography shrinks. Each burst of voltage across the cell causes degradation and Flash memory leaks charges which causes corruption and data loss. Also, repeated writes and rewrites of data blocks on Flash without giving it time to perform garbage collection and cleaning can overwhelm the Flash controller's ability to manage free blocks and can lead to low observed performance.

The presentation focuses on Phase Change Memory (PCM) based solutions and its algorithms which has key advantages over Flash (NAND/NOR) as Memory element can be switched more quickly. Also enduring 100 million write cycles, handling 85C working temperatures, retaining data for 300+ years and exhibiting resistance to radiation can make PCM a compelling option.

Learning Objectives

Evaluate strategies for designing storage solutions that can benefit from Phase Change Memory (PCM)
Recognize the efficiency and benefits of PCM
Determine the limitations of NAND based storage and transition plan to PCM
Thoughts on changes to key Flash Algorithms that will be required