The Ultimate Solid-State Memory?

THE ULTIMATE SOLID-STATE MEMORY? EE March 1987 Fig. 1. Monocrystalline silicon seen through an electron microscope. Most of the manufacturers working on the development of very large semiconductor memories have a 1Mbit DRAM (dynamic random access mem- ory) or EPROM (erasable pro- grammable read-only memory) in production; the remainder are poised to start production in the next few months. A number of them are also already work- ing on the development of a 4 Mbit DRAM (for instance, the General Electric-Toshiba-Sie- mens-Philips conglomerate). These devices require a state- of-the-art capability, high devel- opment and production invest- ment, and a vast market (esti- mated at close to £1000 million during the economic pro- duction life, i.e., until photonic devices become available). Most manufacturers, particu- larly those outside Japan, realize that they cannot make enough money in the memory market to recoup their huge in- vestment costs. They need the technology, however, to...