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Scientists Unveil Most Dense Memory Circuit Ever Made

Posted by samzenpus on from the size-matters dept.

adamlazz writes "The most dense computer memory circuit ever fabricated, capable of storing around 2,000 words in a unit the size of a white blood cell, was unveiled by scientists in California. The team of experts at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) who developed the 160-kilobit memory cell say it has a bit density of 100 gigabits per square centimeter, a new record. The cell is capable of storing a file the size of the United States' Declaration of Independence with room left over."

11 of 249 comments (clear)

  1. Really? by HBI · · Score: 5, Funny

    The cell is capable of storing a file the size of the United States' Declaration of Independence with room left over."

    Not in Microsoft Word format. Maybe ASCII.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    1. Re:Really? by Americano · · Score: 5, Funny

      You know, I'm pretty sure the British government received a copy of it... look around, maybe you still have it. :)

    2. Re:Really? by Runefox · · Score: 5, Funny

      1338 words
      So if the "The" at the beginning of the bolded opening sentence were dropped, the USA would instantaneously be the best place on earth?

      --
      Screw the rules, I have green hair!
  2. Public Service Announcement by mrsam · · Score: 5, Funny

    Please post all "Libraries Of Congress" jokes in this thread. Help keep Slashdot clean. Thank you.

  3. The real question is... by ENOENT · · Score: 5, Funny

    how many Libraries of Congress you can fit into an elephant with this technology.

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    That's "Mr. Soulless Automaton" to you, Bub.
    1. Re:The real question is... by adpsimpson · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In all seriousness, I know how long a London Bus is, I know that an elephant is pretty heavy, I know roughly how much shelf space the Encyclopedia Britannica takes up and I know tall buildings can be quite tall.

      But I have no real concept of how big a white blood cell is, or how much some thousand words (how many thousand? It's out my mind now that it's off the screen...) really is.

      For all I know, the hard drive in my computer could be storing 600 birthday cards per germ already and I wouldn't have a clue.

      Anyone care to quote how fast the Concorde went in Ford Escorts per millisecond? (the link will give you a good start)

      --
      Is crushing a suspect's child's testicles illegal?
      John Yoo: "No, [if] the President thinks he needs to do that."
    2. Re:The real question is... by Bogtha · · Score: 5, Funny

      how many Libraries of Congress you can fit into an elephant with this technology.

      Well, this page estimates LoC at 10 terabytes, which works out to 81920 gigabits. According to the article, a bit density of 100 gigabits per square inch means that you'd need 819.20 square inches to store the Library of Congress.

      According to this page, an elephant can reach 11 feet tall, or 132 inches, and 30 feet long, or 360 inches. According to this page, an elephant can reach 6'4" wide, or 76 inches. That's a dimension of 132 x 360 x 76 inches, or 3,611,520 square inches — assuming cubic elephants (there's a phrase you don't hear every day!).

      Given these figures, a reasonable first guess would be that you could fit approximately 4,400 Libraries of Congress into an elephantine memory circuit. Or, if you prefer to work with more manageable quantities, 4.4 megalocs per kilophant.

      How long before Google add LoCs to their calculator?

      --
      Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
  4. COMPARISONISTICS! by adam.dorsey · · Score: 5, Funny

    The cell is capable of storing a file the size of the United States' Declaration of Independence with room left over. Yeah, but how many 747s does it weigh? ...no, wait, how many Sears Towers is its height?

    Damn, none of my vague comparisons fit...

    WAIT! How many angels can dance on it? That one is for small stuff, right?
    --
    You are still innocent until proven guilty. What's changed is what they do to innocent people. - notnAP, #26891325
  5. Re:Which words? by Nyago · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I assumed a word in the data storage sense. n bits to a word. Then I thought "wait a minute, which architecture?".

    --
    Reality is fluffy!
  6. Very few details by SmlFreshwaterBuffalo · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The article is very lacking in detail.
    • Is this volatile or non-volatile memory?
    • What size word are they using?
    • If non-volatile, what kind of endurance can be expected? What about data retention? It doesn't matter how small the memory is if the data only lasts 5 minutes. (Yes, I'm sure there would be applications even for that, but you get the point.)
    • What are the write and read times?
    • If volatile, does the data need to be refreshed continuously, or will it hold its value as long as power is applied?
    • How much power is required for different operation?
    Okay, so maybe I was expecting too much. But they could've at least given some of the most basic details, like word size (damned marketing dept!).
  7. Re:DNA-memory and computer bio-viruses by SP33doh · · Score: 5, Funny

    oh god the science fiction! IT BURNS!