preview

Computer Memory

Good Essays
Open Document

A. VOLATILE MEMORY
Volatile memory, also known as volatile storage, is computer memory that requires power to maintain the stored information, unlike non-volatile memory which does not require a maintained power supply. It has been less popularly known as term Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is a type of random access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor within an integrated circuit. Since real capacitors leak charge, the information eventually fades unless the capacitor charge is refreshed periodically. Because of this refresh requirement, it is a dynamic memory as opposed to SRAM and other static memory.
The main memory (the "RAM") in personal computers is Dynamic RAM (DRAM), as is the "RAM" of home game …show more content…

Z-RAM has been licensed by Advanced Micro Devices for possible use in future microprocessors. Innovative Silicon claims the technology offers memory access speeds similar to the standard six-transistor SRAM cell used in cache memory but uses only a single transistor, therefore affording much higher packing densities.
Z-RAM relies on the floating body effect, an artifact of the SOI process technology which places transistors in isolated tubs (the transistor body voltages "float" with respect to the wafer substrate underneath the tubs). The floating body effect causes a variable capacitance to appear between the bottom of the tub and the underlying substrate, and was a problem that originally bedeviled circuit designs. The same effect, however, allows a DRAM-like cell to be built without adding a separate capacitor, the floating body effect taking the place of the conventional capacitor. Because the capacitor is located under the transistor (instead of adjacent to, or above the transistor as in conventional DRAMs), another connotation of the name "Z-RAM" is that it extends in the negative z-direction.

• TTRAM
Twin Transistor RAM (TTRAM) is a new type of computer memory in development by Renesas.
TTRAM is similar to conventional one-transistor, one-capacitor DRAM in

Get Access
Related
Get Access