While flash business is considered as a very promising one these days, IBM and Infineon will present a new technology for replacing conventional flash memory from variety of devices by 2005, ZDNet reported.

Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM) combines technological principles from both the magnetic world - the basis for the hard-drive industry - and silicon manufacturing. In MRAM, a tiny magnetic field is created inside a memory cell on a chip. The computer then measures the electrical resistance exhibited by the magnetic field at any given moment to determine whether the cell should be read as a "1" or a "0", the binary building blocks of data. Typical flash memory as used today also utilise the same principles, but require more electricity to switch between “0” and “1” state. In ideal case, MRAM will use less power and perform read/right operations faster than current flash memory.

Currently several manufacturers of flash memory indicated they have a number of difficulties in further reduction of the size of their chips. This eventually may reduce profitability of the whole business.

Chipmakers are now evaluating different alternatives for flash memory, such as Ovonics Unified Memory, memory made out of the same material as CD discs; Silicon Nanocrystals, which replaces a solid layer inside chips with a crystal lattice; and MRAM. IBM and Infineon will this week present a document describing a 128Kb MRAM chip made using 0.18 micron process technology.

There are also a lot of concerns against deploying MRAM in mass production. For instance, its manufacturing process is fundamentally different from standard silicon chips. As a result, memory makers will have to consider all the pros and cons of MRAM, because its manufacturing may appear to be too expensive and less profitable compared to conventional flash.

IBM is aiming to produce samples that could be issued to device makers by 2004. Potentially, MRAM chips could be mass manufactured by 2005, but IBM will not commit to any plans until demand for these chips begins to appear.