Samsung Electronics has completed the first working prototype of what the company expects to be the main memory device to replace high density NOR flash within the next decade - a Phase-change Random Access Memory (PRAM).

PRAM is set to compete with NOR flash and is expected to be available sometime in 2008.

Samsung claims the cell size of its PRAM is half the size of NOR flash, and requires 20 per cent fewer process steps to produce than those used in the manufacturing of NOR flash memory.

Samsung's new PRAM was developed by adopting the use of vertical diodes with the three-dimensional transistor structure that it now uses to produce DRAM. The new PRAM has the smallest 0.0467micron (squared) cell size of any working memory that is free of inter-cell noise, allowing virtually unlimited scalability.

In a statement made in Seoul, South Korea, Samsung claimed that PRAM is more scalable than any other memory architecture being researched, and boasts the fast processing speed of RAM for its operating functions combined with the non-volatile features of flash memory for storage. Since PRAM can rewrite data without having to first erase data previously accumulated, it can be as much as 30-times faster than conventional flash memory, the company said.

Adoption of PRAM is expected to be popular in the future designs of multi-function handsets and for other mobile applications, where faster speeds translate into immediately noticeable boosts in performance. High-density versions will be produced first, starting with 512 Mb.