New memory chips smaller and faster than flash

Flash memory capacity is improving at such a rate that a 10Gb flash drive is no longer unthinkable. But now according to IBM, there's something even better. The new chip technology unveiled today by Big Blue, Macronix and Qimonda is 500 times faster than flash and uses half the power.

It's also much smaller than today's flash drives, which means not only will these chips be able to read and write faster, and use less energy, but they also promise to usher in an era of smaller gadgets that Moore's Law wouldn't have previously foreseen.

The technology uses something called "phase-change" technology, which allows for quicker processing and smaller chip sizes.

Just how small? "The device's cross-section is a minuscule 3 by 20 nanometers in size, far smaller than flash can be built today and equivalent to the industry's chip-making capabilities targeted for 2015", the release says. According to the US National Nanotechnology Institute, a human hair is, on average, 80,000 nanometers in diameter.

Whether this will mean even smaller MP3 players is anybody's guess.