Researchers at a university in China have created the fastest flash memory. Memory speeds that once seemed impossible have now become a reality. The breakthrough device is smaller than a grain of rice and has been made by researchers at Fudan University. It is called “Poxiao”, or Dawn, and is the fastest flash memory ever created.

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“Poxiao” can erase and rewrite data in 400 picoseconds. Notably, one picosecond is one trillionth of a second. The astonishing development will help AI brains read and write as fast as they think.

Memory on the current device is only a few kilobytes. However, what it does is create the possibility of storing data at speeds that are 100,000 times of current limits. The team aims to scale it to tens of megabytes in the next five years.

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New flash memory overcomes previous challenges 

The research was published in the journal Nature. The flash memory will help overcome the limits of information storage speed, removing the challenges in the integrated circuit field. Slow speeds have also proved to be a hurdle in restricting the potential of AI computing power.

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Right now, volatile memory, like SRAM and DRAM, offers high speeds but suffers from some drawbacks, such as high power consumption, high manufacturing costs, and data loss when power is cut. Regular flash storage has a higher capacity but isn't as fast. The new device tried to address all these challenges.

Poxiao can erase and rewrite data within 400 picoseconds

Tests showed that in “Poxiao”, the erase-write speed reached 400 picoseconds. This is faster than the world’s fastest volatile memory, SRAM. Fudan University describes it as "the world’s fastest semiconductor storage technology to date, achieving equal storage and computation speeds."

A floating-gate transistor forms the basic storage unit of the new device. Electrons move in and out of a charge storage space under the influence of voltage, enabling data recording. 

“In the past, the approach to speeding up flash memory involved pre-accelerating the electrons, allowing them to gain energy before entering and exiting,” study lead Liu Chunsen said in a statement from Fudan University, SCMP reported.

The floating-gate transistor has been around for 60 years, and the researchers decided to go with it instead of developing something new. "If we had just stuck with traditional theories or relied on material changes, we wouldn’t have made any major breakthroughs. That is why we have focused on developing a completely new approach to flash memory,” Liu said.