Nanotech set to beef up chips

NEWS

Nanotechnology research in Korea and the US may produce computer memory hundreds of times denser in storage than present-day chips. Researchers from Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology and the Chonbuk National University, both in Korea, have developed a technique for making non-volatile computer memory out of carbon nanotubes, reported the MIT Technology Review. Nanoscale random access memory (NRAM) can hold more data and will not lose information when its power is switched off. According to the report, the researchers made a transistor from a carbon nanotube, and topped it with a layer of silicon nitride sandwiched between layers of silicon oxide. The oxide-nitride sandwich can hold an electric charge, and the transistor can induce or drain the charge, said the report. When arranged vertically, this method of storage can result in a device which stores up to 200 gigabits of information per square inch, 200 times more than current memory chips, the research team said in the report. However, the technique is not expected to be applied in practical applications until 10 to 15 years later, they added. In the US, Nantero, a start-up using nanotechnology to create high-density memory chips, has developed a working prototype capable of storing 10 gigabits of data, as previously reported. The firm said in the report that its method of NRAM production is more cost-efficient as it uses existing silicon manufacturing method, such as lithography and etching. Its NRAM is non-volatile, like current flash memory used in MP3 players, phones and cameras, but is also much faster in data reading and writing, making it suitable for computers as well. Nantero expects to have NRAM memory with a four megabits memory capacity in 18 months and those which are capable of competing with current types of computer RAM in three years, the report said. Nanotechnology is a hotly-contested area which is set to have a significant impact on the IT, revolutionising everything from memory chips, computers, mobile phones to medical systems. At the simplest level, nanotechnology is the manipulation of single atoms and molecules to create objects that can be smaller than 100 nanometres. A nanometre is a billionth of a metre, which is about a hundred-thousandth of the diameter of a human hair, or 10 times the diameter of a hydrogen atom.

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