Memory Technology: Development, Fundamentals, and Future Trends

The unprecedented development in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and the internet of things (IoT) has been booming the expansion of the digital universe where data are growing at astronomical rates. The ever-increasing performance of computing systems is aspiring advanced memory technologies for both storage and computing applications. As the current mainstream non-volatile memory (NVM) technology, flash memory will be extended and continue to dominate for several years. Alternative memory technologies exploiting new materials and concepts to go beyond flash memory for standalone as well as embedded applications are consistently pursued to either replace the classical memory solutions or to fill the gap in conventional memory hierarchies. This chapter reviews the development and fundamentals of solid-state NVM technologies including the mainstream flash memory and the most promising alternative memory technologies. Finally, the future landscape and applications of NVM technologies are discussed.