SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Startup Showcases 7 bits-per-cell Flash Storage with 10 Year Retention
Floadia Corp., a Series C startup from Japan, issued a press release this week to state that it has developed storage technology capable of seven bits-per-cell (7bpc). Still in the prototype stage, this 7bpc flash chip, likely in a WORM [(Write Once Read Many)] scenario, has an effective 10-year retention time for the data at 150C. The company says that a standard modern memory cell with this level of control would only be able to [retain] the data for around 100 seconds, and so the secret in the design is to do with a new type of flash cell they have developed.
The SONOS cell uses a distributed charge trap design relying on a Silicon-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon layout, and the company points to an effective silicon nitride film in the middle where the charges are trapped to allow for high retention. In simple voltage program and erase cycles, the company showcases 100k+ cycles with a very low voltage drift. The oxide-nitride-oxide layers rely on SiO2 and Si3N4, the latter of which is claimed to be easy to manufacture. This allows a non-volatile SONOS cell to be used in NV-SRAM or embedded designs, such as microcontrollers.
It's actually that last point which means we're a long time from seeing this in modern NAND flash. Floadia is currently partnering with companies like Toshiba to implement the SONOS cell in a variety of microcontrollers, rather than large NAND flash deployments, at the 40nm process node as embedded flash IP with compute-in-memory properties. Those aren't at 7 bits-per-cell yet, to the effect that the company is promoting that two cells can store up to 8-bits of network weights for machine learning inference – when we get to 8 bits-per-cell, then it might be more applicable. The 10-year retention of the cell data is where it gets interesting, as embedded platforms will use algorithms with fixed weights over the lifetime of the product, except for the rare update perhaps. Even with increased longevity, Floadia doesn't go into detail regarding cyclability at 7bpc at this time.
Related: Is Octa-Level Cell (OLC) NAND Possible? We May Find Out This Year
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 16 2021, @06:30PM (8 children)
It'll automatically go into Recycle Mode after a couple of years - but you'll get a 30% discount on the replacement as long as you throw the old ones into the garbage can.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 16 2021, @08:02PM (7 children)
Garbage can?! You earth-hater you! It should go into the proper recycling bin.
That said something with 10 years of life at best? I have proms that are 40 years old and still chugging along.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 16 2021, @09:11PM (6 children)
Hey, I had a workhorse Keurig coffee machine that lasted nearly 10 years. It finally died. My wife bought a new, top of the line replacement Keurig. That $150 piece of crap died after only TWO MONTHS! What to do? My wife then bought a cheaper Keurig at only $100 to replace the replacement. It is obviously cheap as hell with a very loose mechanism made of very thin plastic. At least when it dies, it will only cause two thirds the financial pain.
EVERYTHING IS MADE LIKE THIS NOW.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 16 2021, @09:46PM (2 children)
Ten years... bah! I'm still using my grandmother's Bialetti espresso maker that's at least fifty years old. It uses inexpensive ground coffee (since I'm not a millennial I'm capable of using a measuring spoon instead of requiring everything to be prepackaged in shiny overpriced disposable packaging).
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @02:37AM (1 child)
There are those who are addicted to the Keurig K-cup, and they pay a hefty price for it. I agree that you could just use a small coffee maker instead (like a drip model) and save a lot of money. But my wife is the coffee fanatic in the house, so she decides what coffee maker we buy. Before the Keurig, we had a Japanese Zojirushi coffee pot with a thermos carafe. That thing would keep the coffee hot forever after it brewed with no heating element to give the coffee a burnt taste!
https://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-EC-YTC100XB-Coffee-Maker-Stainless/dp/B07B83DGMV/ref=asc_df_B07B83DGMV?tag=bngsmtphsnus-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80676783889076&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=m&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584276309378471&psc=1 [amazon.com]
It never broke, but it sits unused next to the damn Keurig machine with its tiny K-cups of plastic waste enveloped overpriced coffee.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @02:41AM
The only thing more Millennial than a Keurig would be a Keurig K-cup subscription service delivered by Amazon. She's not that far gone.
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Friday December 17 2021, @12:25PM (1 child)
Can't go wrong with a french press. They even make single cup versions.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @12:34PM
Eh, pourover is easier, tastes better, and cheaper.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @04:05PM
Ironically that's probably partly because a lot of plastics are now biodegradable or similar. Which means they start disintegrating after a few years. Not like the 1960s-1970s plastic stuff which are still OK after half a century.
When the modern "environmentally friendly" plastic stuff start crumbling they are only fit for the landfill or incinerator. If you keep using them you'd likely be contributing to the microplastics problem...
Thanks a lot for thinking of the environment when making such plastics!