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Diamonds Used To Increase Density, Performance of Phase-Change Memory
Lucas123 writes "Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have shown they can increase the density, performance and the durability of phase-change memory (PSM) by using diamonds to change the base alloy material. Instead of using the more typical method of applying heat to the alloy to change its state from amorphous to crystalline, thereby laying down bits in the material, the researchers used pressure from diamond-tipped tools. Using pressure versus heat allowed them to slow down the change in order to produce many varying states allowing more data to be stored on the alloy. 'This phase-change memory is more stable than the material used in current flash drives. It works 100 times faster and is rewritable millions of times,' said the study's lead author, Ming Xu, a doctoral student at the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. 'Within about five years, it could also be used to replace hard drives in computers and give them more memory.'"
Seriously. Who didn't already suspect diamonds would increase the performance of phase change memory?
'I don't know what it's called. I just know the sound it makes, when it takes a man's life.' ~ Four Leaf Tayback
I noticed that all the authors are Chinese. You would almost get the impression that research (in hard sciences) in the USA has been taken over by Chinese.
The Diamond Age begins.
Great work, guys! Now, do you have a suggestion on how to put several trillion tiny diamond presses inside my SSD "within about five years"?
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
How many times over the years have we heard that claim? Does anyone remember "bubble memory"? Is was going to replace magnetic media. Optical drives were going to replace magnetic media. SSD were going to replace magnetic media. Now diamonds? Okay. But until then, get off my lawn.
Actually, it is write-once optical media that uses organic dyes, whereas rewritable media (cd-rw, dvd-rw, dvd-ram, etc...) use a phase change metallic alloy. However, I agree with all of your other points about the article.
That does seem to render the breakthrough without virtue, at least from an economic standpoint at this time. Seriously though, history is replete with innovation that cannot stand on its own initially that later becomes indispensable. Like sticky notes.
'I don't know what it's called. I just know the sound it makes, when it takes a man's life.' ~ Four Leaf Tayback
This study brought to you by the DeBeers cartel... Where we artificially inflate the value of a diamond to $5000, when based on supply and demand, it would be worth about $85... Monopolies, or oligopolies in the form of cartels are not so good for consumers... I want to form a toilet paper cartel...
You understand that lab made diamonds are chemically identical, and have identical properties, to mined diamonds? And are orders of magnitude cheaper to create. Does that instantly make this viable? No. Does it mean that the fact that diamonds, which are themselves kept artificially priced high by cartels such as De Beers, will be the most cost prohibitive part of improving longevity and speed, and reducing cost in PCM? Seems unlikely to me. But who knows. Don't get caught up on the fact that it's diamond though.
It's five years because that creates a sense of urgency for angel investors to get in on the ground floor.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
This is a fairly standard alloy for PC memory. These are common in next gen memory--look up ovonyx, or current Samsung NOR for a similar technology. And to be fair, most people in the memory industry do think that some sort of FeRAM or ReRAM or PCRAM will be important in 5 years, as a different leg in the memory heirarchy.
In any case, the point of this research was to use diamonds to take a look at the pressure/temperature phase diagram of the alloy. There is no intent or interest in making the material with diamond. Instead, knowing that you can get performance by going to another phase (which isn't simply accessable with tuning temperatures), you can
1) Change out the layer you are growing on
2) Add a stressor layer (Si3N4 is common) and temperature cycle.
3) Do some sort of tricky flash anneal to recrystalize
4) Add a quaternary alloy to improve the phase space.
In short, there will never be diamond involved, unless there is a C stress layer (unlikely).
This is all pretty standard stuff. THe diamond portion is a side note--that is how they applied test pressures. Practical devices may come out of this based on alterations of other sorts
You mean your recolwikipedialection? Or did you recolgooglelection it to find a real source:)?
Cheers
Lab made diamonds are cheaper to create than gem grade consumer diamonds. I'm no expert, but I thought that industrial grade diamond (e.g. tiny ones, which this would DEFINITELY USE) was really cheap by virtue of being pretty abundant.
Gem grade consumer diamonds can be created in the lab as well. Up to 25 carats has been done, if memory serves me. There are tell tale signs usually, although I won't call them differences. Those diamonds still are diamonds, but tend to fluoresce in ways that mined diamonds would only do when they are a specific color variation like blue diamonds. Also, the labs are playing ball with the mining cartels and making sure that they inscribe serial numbers on their stones, so you know it was lab created.
Long story short, if there was a need to suddenly have to produce a lot of gem quality diamonds to save the Earth or something, you wouldn't have to rely on DeBeers to mine them for you. They wouldn't necessarily be cheap, but they would be a hell of a lot less expensive than current diamond prices.
The white non-Catholic population are primarily contained in the Bible Belt. Everywhere else people generally don't care the way you look. Many of them are friendly and adopting to the Chinese culture too. I am not talking about your local chop suey place but things like the idea of Zen, the rising popularity of acupuncture and herbal medicine etc. is a sign of the times.
New Economic Perspectives
Manmade diamonds also do not have inclusions (bits of sand, or other impurities that get embedded in the crystal).
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Even assuming that bulk transmutation of elements is a "trivial breakthrough", Osmium is actually much less abundant than gold (citation). You're right that the value is what the market says it is, but wrong in thinking that being able to turn one into the other would cause the price of gold to plummet. Osmium is simply not as _useful_ of an element compared to gold, regardless of its rarity.
A nerd's best friend.
Lab created diamonds (at least small ones) are not that expensive. If you need an example check for diamond (dust, but still) covered blades (for stone cutting) in your local hardware store. Artificial diamonds are used in thousands of machines for very different tasks already. So that wont be a big deal