Samsung (SEO:005930) has developed an 8Gb Phase Change Memory chip that has an interface speed of 40 Mbps using the well-known LPDDR2-interface. A capacity of 8Gb is about 8 times more than what we are used to seeing with Phase Change Memory.

The most remarkable about the chip is the fact that it is fabbed on a very advanced 20nm process technology. 20nm is cutting edge when it comes to DDR and flash and even more so with Phase Change Memory.

Phase Change Memory operates by changing the structure of each memory cell from crystalline to amorph and back again by heating the each individual cell.

And it is exactly these heat spreaders that have posed a problem when scaling the cells as they tend to also heat adjacent cells. Phase Change Memory combines the best features of DDR and NAND flash. Non-volatility, bit addressability as well as a longer endurance than flash.

Unfortunately we will have to wait until February before Samsung will spill all the beans, or was that crystals, during the ISSCC conference in San Francisco.S|A