Posted on 09/02/2011 11:19:10 AM PDT by Red Badger
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and one of the largest manufacturers of computer memory, Samsung, have created a new kind of flash memory that uses graphene—atom-thick sheets of pure carbon—along with silicon to store information.
Incorporating graphene could help extend the viability of flash memory technology for years to come, and allow future portable electronics to store far more data.
Chipmakers pack increasing amounts of data in the same physical area by miniaturizing the memory cells used to store individual bits. Inside today's flash drives, these cells are nanoscale "floating gate" transistors. Recent years have seen the rapid miniaturization of flash cells, enabling, for example, the iPhone 4 to store twice as much data as the iPhone 3. But below a certain cell size, silicon becomes less stable, and this has the potential to halt the march of miniaturization.
Graphene-based technology like that demonstrated the UCLA team and Samsung could let flash memory continue shrinking. The group's prototypes devices are described online in the journal ACS Nano.
"We're not totally replacing silicon but using graphene as the storage layer," says Augustin Hong, who worked on the devices at UCLA and is now a research staff member at IBM's Watson Research Center. "We're using graphene to help extend the capabilities of the conventional technology."
The graphene flash memory prototypes can be read and written to using less power than conventional flash memory, and they can store data more stably over time, even when miniaturized. The UCLA researchers have also demonstrated that they meet the industry standard of 10-year projected data retention—today's flash memory does too, but future versions may not. Most important, the graphene memory cells don't electrically interfere with one another—a problem with conventional flash cells as they are made smaller that can cause them to malfunction.
Other researchers are working on radical new kinds of computer memory that promise to hold more data. However, many of these alternatives require exotic materials and totally new manufacturing processes. Replacing silicon with graphene in flash memory cells could provide a simpler, more practical solution, at least in the short term.
Bigger memory ping!.................
Combine this with IBM’s new PCM design and we’ll be seeing 1+tb flash drives in no time!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2744808/posts
pretty cool stuff..
my first beast was a 64 KiloByte core memory thingy.. and it weighed plenty..
now ya can lug 64GB on a little stick..
We cannot use Graphene as the EPA has indicated that Carbon causes Global Warming. - lunatic lib
Does anyone make a graphene memory cell that I can plug in to my brain? THAT is where I need more memory...
You already have about 2.5PB in your hippocampus. Don't be greedy.
Some of mine acccidently got erased..
But it will still take Windows ten minutes to boot up!...................
I keep hearing stuff about graphene.
Try Crap Cleaner...........
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
Then use DeFraggler............
http://www.piriform.com/defraggler
It’s the new ‘plastics’!.......................
Yeah.
http://bigthink.com/ideas/24381
a snip:
Some say that it will be heralded as one of the materials that will literally change our lives in the 21st century. Not only is graphene the thinnest possible material that is feasible, but it’s also about 200 times stronger than steel and conducts electricity better than any material known to man—at room temperature.
I bought a 40MB hard drive, ($350!) and wondered what in the world I was gonna go with all that SPACE!...................
Mine's still in the Recycle Bin, but I think the files are corrupted.
Honestly, it looks like the big story here is not the memory, but the graphene itself. Google it.
Very interesting.
This is amazing:
“It [graphene] can also be considered as an indefinitely large aromatic molecule...”
Molecules don’t “wear out”. How long would moving parts made of graphene last? They claim it would take an elephant standing on a pencil, point down, to break a sheet (one atom thick) of graphene.
I like flash but I hope they can make it more robust. It has a limited number of writes leading to poor reliability over the long hall.
I’ve had a number die over the years and still find hard drives more reliable for long term storage.
My hippo got loose and the campus just can’t keep up on its own.
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