Professor Tong Hao of the School of Integrated Circuits at Huazhong University of Science and Technology has dedicated himself to the specialized research and development of 3D phase-change memory over the past two decades, addressing critical shortcomings in the memory chip industry.

During his postgraduate studies, Tong Hao began exploring storage technology under the guidance of Professor Miao Xiangshui. He observed a critical issue faced by users of electronic devices: the inherent trade-off between memory capacity and operational speed. At the same time, he noticed that domestic storage chips suffered from significant gaps between traditional internal and external memory technologies, representing a core weakness in the industry. He decided to forgo optimizing existing storage technologies and instead focused his research on developing a new storage solution that could combine high capacity with high speed, choosing to specialize in the innovative architecture of 3D phase-change memory.

This groundbreaking technology bridges the gap between internal and external memory usage, allowing data to be preserved even after power loss. It offers both high capacity and superior read/write performance. During the research and development process, Tong Hao led his team in overcoming industrial challenges such as material integration and device instability. They enhanced device durability by a factor of 100 and significantly improved chip read/write speeds, achieving up to 1,000 times the speed of conventional flash memory.

Over the course of two decades of dedication, Tong Hao led his team to develop China's first prototype 3D phase-change memory chip, paving the way for enterprises to mass-produce 64Gb 3D phase-change memory chips. This technology has already been implemented in large-scale internet data centers.

Tong Hao has presided over more than 10 national and provincial-level research projects, published over 90 SCI papers, and held more than 120 authorized invention patents. He has been honored with prestigious awards, including, the First Prize for Technological Invention of Hubei Province, and the Gold Medal with the Congratulations of the Jury at the Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions, among others.

Source: Youth League Committee, and School of Integrated Circuits, HUST