Buffering Implications for the Design Space of Streaming MEMS Storage

Emerging nanotechnology-based systems encounter new non-functional requirements. This work addresses MEMS storage, an emerging technology that promises ultrahigh density and energy-efficient storage devices. We study the buffering requirement of MEMS storage in streaming applications. We show that capacity and lifetime of a MEMS device dictate the buffer size most of the time. Our study shows that trading off 10% of the optimal energy saving of a MEMS device reduces its buffer capacity by up to three orders of magnitude.