Phase-Change Memory

Phase-change memory (also known as PCME, PRAM, PCRAM, Ovonic Unified Memory, Chalcogenide RAM and C-RAM) is a type of non-volatile computer memory. PRAMs exploit the unique behavior of chalcogenide glass. Heat produced by the passage of an electric current switches this material between two states, crystalline and amorphous. Recent versions can achieve two additional distinct states, effectively doubling their storage capacity. PRAM is one of several new memory technologies competing in the non-volatile role with the almost universal flash memory. The latter technology has a number of practical problems which these replacements hope to address.