Next-generation memory chip packs in the data

MIT Technology Review : As demand for data storage grows for increasingly small devices such as smartphones, companies have been working on a new type of memory chip that can store much more data in a much smaller space. Resistive random access memory (RRAM) stores bits of information using resistance in a transistor. It shows promise of being much denser and faster than flash memory, which stores bits using electrical charge. Now a group of researchers at Rice University has developed a way to make RRAM that avoids the high temperatures and voltages required by previous efforts. Their chip is made by inserting a layer of porous silicon oxide between two thin layers of metal. When a voltage is applied, a conduction path forms through the silicon. The presence or absence of such paths can be used to represent the 0s and 1s of binary digital data. To rewrite the bits, they apply another electrical pulse. Once perfected, RRAM could store one terabyte of data on a device the size of a postage stamp.