Archive notice: This article was originally published on January 28, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
US electronics company Nanochip is developing technology intended to make flash memory significantly cheaper and higher capacity. The company aimed to build a 100 GB prototype by the end of 2008, begin limited production in 2009 and eventually reach one terabyte.
Nanochip said it achieved higher capacity through smaller structures: each data bit used 15 square nanometres, compared with 65 nm structures in existing flash memory. The MEMS-based chip contains thousands of movable probes for reading and writing data, which were also intended to provide high bandwidth and faster storage and retrieval.
The company emphasised that the chips could be produced on ten-year-old equipment without new fabrication plants. If successful, the approach could support wider use of flash-based solid-state disks, then an energy-saving but expensive alternative to magnetic hard drives. Nanochip raised US$14 million in a financing round involving Intel Capital, JK&B Capital and another investor.
