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Using DNA To Build DRAMs

Posted by Hemos on from the make-them-tiny dept.

SailorBob writes "A research team at the University of Minnesota has demonstrated a technique using DNA crystals to build 20 angstrom 1 bit single electron memory cells. The researchers claim that this technique could be used to build memory with a 10 trillion bits/cm2 density, which would mean a 6.4 Terabit DRAM."

1 of 21 comments (clear)

  1. not exactly DRAM by Matthias+Wiesmann · · Score: 4, Interesting
    They article only compares the DNA system with DRAM for memory density. They don't talk about building DRAM using this technology.
    • The D in DRAM stands for dynmic, this is memory that needs to be update at regular intervals. I'm not sure this DNA technology will require refreshes (this is good).
    • In the article, they mention that their current plans are not for random access (those are the R and A in RAM.) I think this technology is closer to CCD memory where data can be fed and read in a sequential manner. For certain applications (like storing video data), this is sufficient, but for computer main memory, this is not well suited.
    • So basically, they will do DRAM, but without the DRA part. This is called memory.