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Nanoscale Switches in Memory

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the harnassing-the-power-of-the-atom dept.

Frans Faase writes "At the university of Boston, researchers are using nano-scale mechanical switches as a novel technology for building memory. These switches are extremely small, require only femtowatts of power to switch, but still can switch at speeds of 23.57 megahertz. And they are expected to become even smaller and faster and are expected to overcome the theoretical limit of 100 gigabits per square inch capacity for magnetic media."

3 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Re:femtowatts? by iezhy · · Score: 5, Informative

    femtowatt is one quadrillionth (10 ^ -15) of Watt

  2. Re:Mechanical == Achilles' Heel by maxwell+demon · · Score: 3, Informative

    Indeed, electronic devices fail due to having moving parts. It's called Electromigration.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  3. Re:Mechanical == Achilles' Heel by Bakerman · · Score: 3, Informative

    Each of these switches is probably smaller than any particle shedded by normal wear-and-tear, and also smaller than the surface features that the whole concept of friction is based on.

    Actually, friction increases with decreasing size. For nano-sized particles friction is one of the dominant effects and often cause microelectromechanical devices to fail due to "stiction"; one piece of the machinery semi-permanently sticking to another due to van-der-Waals forces.