Faster memory chips can store more data

A new form of super-fast computer memory can offer more storage capacity than current technology such as flash memory in USB sticks, British scientists say. The new memory is known as Resistive RAM (or 'ReRAM') based on materials, most often oxides of metals, whose electrical resistance changes when a voltage is applied and can then "remember" this change even when the power is turned off, researchers as University College London reported. "Our ReRAM memory chips need just a thousandth of the energy and are around a hundred times faster than standard Flash memory chips," Tony Kenyon of the university's electronic and electrical engineering department said. The researchers said they've developed a novel structure composed of silicon oxide that performs the switch in resistance much more efficiently. Unlike other silicon oxide chips currently in development, they said, their chip does not require a vacuum to work, making it potentially cheaper and more durable. "The fact that the device can operate in ambient conditions and has a continuously variable resistance opens up a huge range of potential applications," Kenyon said.