New device may revolutionize computer memory

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new device that represents a significant advance for computer memory, making large-scale"server farms"more energy efficient and allowing computers to start more quickly.

Traditionally, there are two types of computer memory devices. Slow memory devices are used in persistent data storage technologies such as flash drives. They allow us to save information for extended periods of time, and are therefore called nonvolatile devices. Fast memory devices allow our computers to operate quickly, but aren’t able to save data when the computers are turned off. The necessity for a constant source of power makes them volatile devices.

But now a research team from NC State has developed a single“unified” device that can perform both volatile and nonvolatile memory operation and may be used in the main memory.

“We’ve invented a new device that may revolutionizecomputer memory,” says Dr. Paul Franzon, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research.“Our device is called a double floating-gate field effect transistor (FET). Existing nonvolatile memory used indata storagedevices utilizes a single floating gate, which stores charge in the floating gate to signify a 1 or 0 in the device– or one‘bit’ of information. By using two floating gates, the device can store a bit in a nonvolatile mode, and/or it can store a bit in a fast, volatile mode– like the normal main memory on your computer.”

The double floating-gate FET could have a significant impact on a number of computer problems. For example, it would allow computers to start immediately, because the computer wouldn’t have to retrieve start-up data from its hard drive– the data could be stored in its main memory.

The new device would also allow“power proportional computing.” For example, Web server farms, such as those used by Google, consume an enormous amount of power– even when there are low levels of user activity– in part because the server farms can’t turn off the power without affecting their main memory.

“The double floating-gate FET would help solve this problem,” Franzon says,“because data could be stored quickly innonvolatile memory– and retrieved just as quickly. This would allow portions of the server memory to be turned off during periods of low use without affecting performance.”

Franzon also notes that the research team has investigated questions about this technology’s reliability, and that they think the device“can have a very long lifetime, when it comes to storing data in the volatile mode.”

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IBM and Samsung collaborate on chip research

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US computer giant IBM and South Korean electronics titan Samsung have announced they will begin working together on ways to make better chips for smartphones and other gadgets.

Samsung researchers will team with scientists at the IBM Semiconductor Research Alliance in New York State to createcomputer processor"solutions that are optimized for performance, power consumption, and size."

"Collaborative innovation will be critical if the semiconductor industry is to continue driving new forms ofconsumer electronicsand new methods of computing,"said IBM microelectronics general manager Michael Cadigan.

"That's why we're excited to haveSamsungscientists working with us at the most fundamental stages of the R&D process."

The companies are striving to develop chips to power a high-performance generation of"smarter, connected and more mobile"devices.

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Using 30nm class technology, Samsung develops industry's first DDR4DRAM

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Samsung Electronics announced today that it completed development of the industry’s first DDR4 DRAMmodule last month, using 30 nanometer (nm) class process technology.

“Samsung has been actively supporting the IT industry with our greenmemoryinitiative bycoming up with eco-friendly, innovative memory products providing higher performance and power efficiency every year,” said Dong Soo Jun, president, memory division,Samsung Electronics.“The new DDR4 DRAM will build even greater confidence in our cutting-edgegreenmemory, particularly when we introduce four-gigabit (Gb) DDR4-based products using next generationprocess technologyfor mainstream application.”

The new DDR4 DRAM module can achieve data transfer rates of 2.133 gigabits per second (Gbps)at 1.2V, compared to 1.35V and 1.5V DDR3 DRAM at an equivalent 30nm-class process technology, with speeds of up to 1.6Gbps. When applied to a notebook, it reduces power consumption by 40 percent compared to a 1.5VDDR3 module.

The module makes use of Pseudo Open Drain (POD), a new technology that has been adapted to high-performance graphic DRAM to allow DDR4 DRAM to consume just half the electric current of DDR3 when readingand writing data.

By employing new circuit architecture, Samsung’s DDR4 will be able to run from 1.6 up to 3.2Gbps, compared to today’s typical speeds of 1.6Gbps for DDR3 and 800Mbps for DDR2.

Late last month, Samsung provided 1.2V 2gigabyte (2GB) DDR4 unbuffered dual in-line memory modules (UDIMM) to a controller maker for testing.

Samsung now plans to work closely with a number of server makers to help insure completion of JEDEC standardization of DDR4 technologies in the second half of this year.

Samsung has been leading the advancement of DRAM technology ever since it developed the industry’s first DDR DRAM in 1997. In 2001, it introduced the first DDR2 DRAM, and in 2005, announced the first DDR3DRAMusing 80nm-class technology.

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Scientists squeeze more than 1,000 cores on to computer chip

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of Glasgow have created an ultra-fast 1,000-core computer processor.

Thecoreis the part of a computer’s central processing unit (CPU) which reads and executes instructions. Originally, computers were developed with only one coreprocessorbut, today, processors with two, four or even sixteen cores are commonplace.

However, Dr Wim Vanderbauwhede and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Lowell have created a processor which effectively contains more than a thousand cores on a single chip.

To do this, the scientists used a chip called a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) which like all microchips contains millions of transistors– the tiny on-off switches which are the foundation of any electronic circuit.

FPGAs can be configured into specific circuits by the user, rather than their function being set at a factory, which enabled Dr Vanderbauwhede to divide up the transistors within the chip into small groups and ask each to perform a different task.

By creating more than 1,000 mini-circuits within the FPGA chip, the researchers effectively turned the chip into a 1,000-core processor– each core working on its own instructions.

The researchers then used thechipto process an algorithm which is central to the MPEG movie format– used in YouTube videos– at a speed of five gigabytes per second: around 20 times faster than current top-end desktop computers.

Dr Vanderbauwhede said:“FPGAs are not used within standard computers because they are fairly difficult to program, but their processing power is huge while their energy consumption is very small because they are so much quicker– so they are also a greener option.”

While most computers sold today now contain more than one processing core, which allows them to carry out different processes simultaneously, traditional multi-core processors must share access to one memory source, which slows the system down.

The scientists in this research were able to make the processor faster by giving each core a certain amount of dedicated memory.

Dr Vanderbauwhede, who hopes to present his research at the International Symposium on Applied Reconfigurable Computing in March 2011, added:“This is very early proof-of-concept work where we’re trying to demonstrate a convenient way to program FPGAs so that their potential to provide very fast processing power could be used much more widely in future computing and electronics.

“While many existing technologies currently make use of FPGAs, including plasma and LCD televisions and computer network routers, their use in standard desk-top computers is limited.

“However, we are already seeing some microchips which combine traditional CPUs withFPGAchips being announced by developers, including Intel and ARM.

I believe these kinds of processors will only become more common and help to speed up computers even further over the next few years.”

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