Intel-Micron 20nm NAND memory at 128Gb (via Intel)
A joint Intel-Micron project brings 128Gb of data in a fingertip size package. The team is boasting the possibility of a Terabit through stacking 8 of these chips. Micron's development venture IM Flash Technologies (IMFT) brings the industry's first 20nm NAND memory fabrication using a planar cell structure. The technique brings unprecedented scaling due to the first use on Hi-K/metal gate stack on NAND memory. The tech is capable of 333 MT/s (megatransfers per second.) To get an accurate bit transfer rate we would have to know the bus length. Intel stated that the NAND memory meets the ONFI 3.0 specification for high speed NAND memory, which means up to 400MB/s. (Just a ball-park figure.)
Hi-K is in reference to a material with a high dielectric constant "K" in comparison to silicon dioxide. In other words, the ratio of the amount of electrical energy stored in the material by an applied voltage in relation to that stored in a vacuum. When scale goes below 2nm, silicon dioxide tends to leak current due to tunneling, leading to power inefficiencies. A high-k material replaces less than 2nm scale gate material and allows for increased gate capacitance without leakage. Intel toyed with hafnium-based high-K materials for gate replacement on 45nm tech back in 2007. Intel predicted that use of such material will aid in continuing Moore's Law.
A 64Gb version of the tech is already on the market with 128Gb planned for availability in January 2012. Carrying one's entire digital life with them, discretely, at all times does not seem out of the realm of possibility.
Cabe