A group of scientists at Arizona State University have managed to obtain a new and efficient type of solid-state storage memory that is alleged to be not only cheaper but also much more efficient than the current NAND pieces. This memory storage is powered by an undisclosed type of nanotechnology, which allows the creation of extremely vast storage spaces that are cheap and very small-sized. The new type of memory has been named programmable metalization cell (PMC) and will be the cortnerstone of tomorrow's new and large portable storage.

The programmable metalization cell uses nanotechnology to charge the pure copper molecules in the alloy, with spectacular results as compared to the current flash storage technology. An energy-saving and pseudo-infinite solid-state memory drive will be the dream of any portable device owner.

Conventional flash memory uses electronic charges for information storage, but the PMC uses copper molecules to create nanowires. Information is stored in these nanowires as binary zeros and ones, and since it all happens on nano-scale, it's easy to imagine that a tiny space can contain an unimaginable amount of data. When the user needs to dispose of the old data, a positive charge would be passed through the memory, causing the nanowires to dissolve, just like the links in a chain.

"A thumb drive using our memory could store a terabyte of information", Michael Kozicki, director of ASU's Center for Applied Nanoionics, told Wired magazine. "All the current limitations in portable electronic storage could go away. You could record video of every event in your life and store it."

This might sound a little too fantastic, or too good to be true, but remember that flash-based memory density has halved, while the capacity has yearly doubled. Unfortunately, the flash memory is about to reach its physical limitations, and beyond this point, there's no way to expand it. Therefore, it's time to change it. We are living the solid-state storage boom, and the last months have shown us that size limitations are a time-overcoming obstacle. However, if capacities are continually increasing, their price would proportionally follow the same ascension. The new memory technology comes in handy for the next-generation of storage devices.