Micron Co-developing Non-Volatile DRAM

By Wolfgang Gruener
published

AgigA Tech has found a partner to work to bring its non-volatile DRAMs to market: Micron said that it is co-developing the technology with Cypress Semiconductor's subsidiary.

According to a press releases, Micron said it will be contributing its expertise in memory IC, module development, and manufacturing to result in an NVDIMM module that will use AgigA Tech's ultracapacitor-based power modules. The previously announced AgigA Tech technology combines DRAM and Flash memory in DDR3 form factor modules. When the power supply is cut, the contents in the DRAM are transferred to Flash. The briefly required power supply is provided by AgigA Tech's capacitors. According to the company, the data retention time in the DIMM reaches about 10 years.

Micron said that it has signed an agreement to collaborate to develop and offer nonvolatile DIMM (NVDIMM) products with AgigA Tech, but it did not provide information when such products could become available and how much they would cost.

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Wolfgang Gruener
15 Comments Comment from the forums
  • assasin32
    Well that would make cold boot attacks much easier.
    Reply
  • manofchalk
    Interesting, wonder what other applications that this could bring. Imagine something along the lines of super fast USB drives or tablet storage could be possible, with the RAM acting as a cache to the flash memory.
    Reply
  • fuzzion
    My 1987 sony amp already did that. Infact, the capacitors were so awesomely old that you could switch it off and still hear your music for a few seconds later.
    Reply
  • merikafyeah
    Sweet! With this you won't have to save all your work when you need to swap out your laptop batteries.
    Just enter standby, insert new battery, resume where you left off. How I wish I could do this now.
    Reply
  • immanuel_aj
    I guess hibernating a computer would make it come out of that state even faster now if this is possible. And a RAM drive would really be an actual drive, the contents remaining in between powering the computer off.
    Reply
  • tiret
    looking forward to the day when i can start my pc and immediately get the windows login screen.
    that is one of the main reasons people leave their machines on when they leave work - ultimately millions of pc's stay on for nothing every day - think of the wasted energy - the unnecessary green house emissions.
    Reply
  • myromance123
    Is it possible with tech like this that volatile DRAM would become obsolete?
    Reply
  • hardcore_gamer
    myromance123Is it possible with tech like this that volatile DRAM would become obsolete?Not really. Battery powered devices such as tablets and smartphones don't require NVRAM
    Reply
  • tomfreak
    they could have just add the entire thing into SSD as a cache much like SSD flash on a HDD = Hybrid drive is always a good thing. SSD with DRAM as cache would prove useful for frequent use data, so this will further improve SSD write cycle as we shrink the SSD process nm.
    Reply
  • rantoc
    This have loads of applications and if the speed / density is high enough it could replace both dram and flash with one type. Why have an ssd when the program is already "installed" into the main memory and will remain even after shut-down... The security concerns is another matter, mem resident programs and the like will have a whole new meaning....
    Reply