Flash Memory Technologies May Hit Evolutionary Roadblock by 2024: Research

No doubt the popularity of NAND flash memory is soaring with every passing day, with more and more consumers opting for solid state drives for their day to day computing requirements. However, that being said, a new research has revealed how it is merely a matter of 12 odd years till flash memory technologies hit an evolutionary roadblock, the same way floppy drives hit theirs a few years ago.

The study, which was co-authored by Microsoft Research's John Davis and University of California's Steven Swanson, included a thorough observation of 45 different flash chips in offering from half-a-dozen vendors.

The researchers concluded that by 2024, vendors will be able to dish out 3.5nm TLC NANA flash drives with the ability to store 16 TB data - pretty impressive indeed. However, they also claimed that reducing the form factor of the transistor any further could result in the memory being totally unstable.

"It's not going to be viable to go past 6.5nm. 2024 is the end," the researchers said in the Usenix Conference, reports The Verge.

Find the research paper here [PDF].