How Emerging Memory Supports Next-Gen Computing in the Data Explosion Era

ChatGPT, the metaverse, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are among the technologies in our daily lives creating vast amounts of data. The backbone of these impactful technologies is the semiconductor, posing a challenge to semiconductor companies to advance their products to meet increasing technological demands. In response, the semiconductor industry has focused on memory innovation to address the issues of the data explosion era.

In this EE Times article, Myung-hee Na, vice president of SK hynix’s Revolutionary Technology Center (RTC), reveals how emerging memory solutions such as chalcogenide-based memories are being developed for the advanced technologies of today.

SK hynix is leading this industry innovation through the development of its chalcogenide-based selector-only-memory (SOM) to improve performance and simplify processes. Unlike previous memory solutions such as phase-change memory (PCM), this new SOM acts as both memory and selector in bi-directional operations.

Despite SOM’s promise, it does face some technical challenges which has led SK hynix to research the feasibility of vertical SOM (VSOM). VSOM opens the door to the development of ultra-high density memory solutions but significant material innovations are required to realize its potential.

Na also writes about how the “Beyond Memory” era can truly begin with memory solutions that break the boundaries between computation and memory. In this regard, SK hynix’s RTC has been researching analog-compute in memory (ACIM) as it has the potential for simultaneous computation and storage due to its non-volatile memory characteristics.

As the introduction of emerging memory solutions requires a whole new memory R&D ecosystem, Na concludes the article with calls for industry-wide collaboration across this new ecosystem to fully realize the potential of innovative memory products.

To find out more about these new memory solutions, read the full EE Times article here: How Emerging Memory Supports Next-Gen Computing in the Data Explosion Era