Using managed runtime systems to tolerate holes in wearable memories

Abstract

New memory technologies, such as phase-change memory (PCM), promise denser and cheaper main memory, and are expected to displace DRAM. However, many of them experience permanent failures far more quickly than DRAM. DRAM mechanisms that handle permanent failures rely on very low failure rates and, if directly applied to PCM, are extremely inefficient: Discarding a page when the first line fails wastes 98% of the memory.