Nanotechnology enables a new memory growth model

As we enter the nanotechnology era, a big shift in paradigm comes to the memory industry. The traditional computer industry for dynamic RAM is expected to mature its memory-bit consumption with a relatively low growth rate. Meanwhile, the memory consumption and high-density memory usage in mobile handsets and digital consumer applications will grow very fast. For these new applications, NAND Flash memory will be the key enabling technology and its easy scaling and multibit/cell capabilities require a new memory growth model. The well-known Moore's law still holds for most cases after the quarter-century history of the integrated circuit industry. However, the paradigm shift in the memory industry requires a new memory growth model: "a twofold increase per year in memory density." This paper will cover some details of recent memory technologies, application trends, and the proposed new memory growth model.