Random Accesses

Over the past decade, flash memory has changed the electronics landscape, giving us robust storage in tiny devices such as iPods and cell phones. As chip sizes shrink, however, engineers know there will be limits to flash performance, and they have been eyeing a replacement technology called phase-change memory.

Today (4 February 2008), Intel announced a research advance that doubles the storage capacity of a single phase-change memory cell. This new approach is also implemented in the chip via algorithms so that it won't add cost to the existing phase-change memory fabrication process.

Phase-change memory differs from other solid-state memory technologies such as flash and random-access memory because it doesn't use electrons to store data. Instead, it relies on the material's own arrangement of atoms, known as its physical state. Previously, phase-change memory was designed to take advantage of only two states: one in which atoms are loosely organized (amorphous), and another where they are rigidly structured (crystalline).

Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20148/?a=f