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IBM Demos Single-Atom DRAM

An anonymous reader writes "A single-atom DRAM was demonstrated by IBM recently with a slow-mo movie of the atomic process of setting and erasing a bit on a single atom. Videos of atomic processes inside chips were not possible until now, leading to IBM's claim that its pulsed-STM (used to make the movie) will lead to a new atomic-scale semiconductor industry, and not just for memory chips, according to this EETimes story: 'The ultimate memory chips of the future will encode bits on individual atoms, a capability recently demonstrated for iron atoms by IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., which unveiled a new pulsed technique for scanning tunneling microscopes (STMs). Pulsed-STMs yield nanosecond time-resolution, a requirement for designing the atomic-scale memory chips, solar panels and quantum computers of the future, but also for making super efficient organic solar cells by controlling photovoltaic reactions on the atomic level.'"

5 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. Just one atom? by iceaxe · · Score: 5, Funny

    One atom ought to be enough for anybody.

    (Sorry)

    --
    WALSTIB!
  2. Big deal... by skynexus · · Score: 5, Funny

    the processor on my computer runs on a single Atom already. I'm not impressed.

    1. Re:Big deal... by n1hilist · · Score: 4, Funny

      I overclocked mine and it split :(

  3. Re:And by Moore's Law... by jameskojiro · · Score: 5, Funny

    1 year after that we will be encoding data on quarks themselves.....

    6 months later we will make neutrinos our bitches for storing and processing data....

    3 months after that we will be creating even smaller particles from cosmic strings to process and store data int he fabric of spacetime.

    1 day later we will make God cry.

    --
    Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
  4. Re:Where on the DRAM spectrum? by vidnet · · Score: 4, Funny

    Who would want to carry around a cryostat with [their] laptop?

    Just slap an Apple logo on it, and people will never leave home without it.