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Researchers Print Electronic Memory On Paper

Posted by Unknown on from the pen-and-paper-computing dept.

MTorrice (2611475) writes Electronics printed on paper promise to be cheap, flexible, and recyclable, and could lead to applications such as smart labels on foods and pharmaceuticals or as wearable medical sensors. Many engineers have managed to print transistors and solar cells on paper, but one key component of a smart device has been missing—memory. Now a group of researchers has developed a method that uses ink-jet technology to print resistive random access memory on an ordinary letter sized piece of paper. The memory is robust: Engineers could bend the device 1,000 times without any loss of performance. The memory is not yet very dense, but could be: "Each silver dot they printed was approximately 50 microns across and separated from its neighbor by 25 microns, so each bit of memory is 100 microns on a side. At that size, a standard 8.5- by 11-inch piece of paper can hold 1 MB of memory. Der-Hsien Lien, the paper's lead author, says existing ultrafine ink-jet technology can produce dots less than 1 micron across, which would allow the same piece of paper to hold 1 gigabyte. Reading and writing the bits takes 100 to 200 microseconds"

21 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Old news... by chinton · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've been printing my memory on paper since I could hold a pencil...

  2. Density by mythosaz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What's the current density of machine-readable written information on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper?

    I'm going to guess more than a meg.

    1. Re:Density by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What's the current density of read/write randomly-accessible information?

    2. Re:Density by mythosaz · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Paper is already at least WORM, and depending on your format, randomly-accessible.

      I don't suggest that this isn't interesting, I'm just asking a question about machine readable printed information density.

      How many distinct characters or pixels can we reliably scan in from an 8.5x11 sheet of paper? What density of information allows us to have 4 or 8 or 16 or 256 colors of pixels?

    3. Re:Density by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Um... assuming 1/4" nonprintable margin, a regular 300 dpi printer can do 8 * 10.5 * 300 * 300 = 7,560,000 bits = 945,000 Bytes in black and white. Multiply by 4 for 600 dpi or by 16 for 1200 dpi. Then multply by 4 for CYMK, and by another 16 if your printer can do 4-bit color.

      8 * 10.5 * 1200 * 1200 * 4 * 16 / 8 bits = 967,680,000 Bytes for a 1200 dpi 4-bit color laser printer. That's nearly 1GB.

    4. Re:Density by Ravaldy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't think most people understand the application for this.

      Printing RFIDs has existed for many years now (at least 10 that I know of) and is mostly used for quickly scanning contents of a box without having to handle each item inside of it. It is also used to track inventory leaving an area (e.g. a tool storage room).

      Adding memory to this equation means you can store data on the paper until the transaction is complete. I can't come up with a reason for this on the spot but I can imagine there are processes that could benefit from it.

      From a security standpoint you could store an encrypted password on the paper... Much easier than having to type a 256 character passcode.

    5. Re:Density by timeOday · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Adding memory to this equation means you can store data on the paper until the transaction is complete. I can't come up with a reason for this on the spot but I can imagine there are processes that could benefit from it.

      But once you can uniquely identify each object (with a simple bar code or RFID), it's easy to associate any amount of information with it, in a database somewhere. The more ubiquitous network connectivity becomes, the more location transparency you have, and the less need to store information directly in a specific place.

      In short, this is a floppy disk, but on a paper backing.

    6. Re:Density by DudeTheMath · · Score: 2

      Yeah, I was bothered by that, too. 8.5x11 paper is 603.22 cm^2, so we can fit roughly 6032200 100 micron^2 on the sheet, or about 736KB. Now, if it's really 75 microns on a side, the density goes up by 16/9 to 1309KB. Maybe they're leaving a margin? TFA gives the "100 micron" and "1MB" values, so it's not the poster but probably the reporter who made the mistake.

      --
      You save only 59 seconds over 8 miles by going 75 instead of 65. Do you really have to pass that guy? Do the Math!
  3. That's great by aaaaaaargh! · · Score: 2

    However, this technology will very probably disappear like so many others. Anyone remember the technology that allows you to store giga- to terrabytes of data on a few layers of Tesa strip? Read by laser without any moving parts, prototyped at a time when CDs were still the standard medium? Well, this never made it into a buyable product either.

    My humble theory is that market forces do not always promote the best solution. After all, why should corporations put something new on the market if it would give them less opportunities to rip you off in the long run? :-(

    The good news is that this technology has better chances of success than the Tesa strip solution, because ... ink cartridges! ;-)

  4. Transistors was there but memory was not? WTF by pegdhcp · · Score: 2

    This should be a new component in electronics, right? "Memory" as a component! I should not stop reading periodicals after the school.Or maybe somebody should star reading such, before copy pasting crap...

    1. Re:Transistors was there but memory was not? WTF by MondoGordo · · Score: 2

      a transistor by itself is not memory ... just as a gear by itself is not a clock. They have to be connected in specific ways to function as memory ... all the article is saying this is the first time that configuration has been done with print tech ... not that it couldn't have been done before, just that no-one had.

  5. GREAT IDEA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey! We could load programs on paper cards and use them to batch install/run programs in the future. Or instead of 8.5 x 11 paper, we could make a continuous stream of paper, like a tape, to read/write data to. The future looks bright!

  6. But what if... by rhazz · · Score: 4, Funny

    If I store my MP3s on this sheet of paper and then photocopy it, is that copyright infringement?

  7. When I can play Asteroids on the back of a box... by uCallHimDrJ0NES · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...it will be hard to get me to leave the breakfast table.

    I'm seeing a whole line of Atari cereals, and a competing line of Mattel Electronics Intellicereals. Maybe get Alan Alda and George Plimpton's faces on the boxes to keep the kids away from Dad's stuff.

    --
    Cloudiot: A person who does not see offsite storage as a way to lose control over access to his or her own data.
  8. 3M by just_another_sean · · Score: 2

    Well, if they come up with a scheme to encrypt the paper maybe it will finally be safe for all those lazy users to store their passwords on a post it note. Should be able to squeeze at least 640K onto a post it note, should be enough for anybody.

    --
    Creationist Textbook Stickers Declared Unconstitutional by CowboyNeal
  9. Ink? Nope. by denzacar · · Score: 4, Funny

    because ... ink cartridges! ;-)

    Think milk cartons. That sing joyful tunes and jingles when you open your fridge.

    Packaging that remembers you - wherever you are.
    Which will give you your very own personal discount cause it knows that your milk carton at home is only just opened, but it knows from your profile that you like a bargain.

    Products will express you when you buy them, and sadness when you don't.
    They will be your friends. They will know your favorite things.
    They will love you like you were never loved by anyone else.
    Your dog will be jealous. Your cat will try to kill them.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  10. Re:Magnetic strip? by esampson · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Audio tape is sequential access, not random access. The same thing with the magnetic strip. Usually this isn't a problem because the magnetic strip on your card contains a very small amount of information so it is quick to read the entire sequence but if you had to sequentially load just 16k of information from a tape it could take some time.

    Ask anyone who had a home computer before floppy disks became available.

  11. Re:Disruptive tech by Russ1642 · · Score: 2

    Ink will cost more than a divorce.

  12. A whole MB? by clovis · · Score: 3, Funny

    640K should be enough for anyone.

  13. We've had field-writable ROM paper for years by davidwr · · Score: 2

    I can see the advantages of cheap, relatively-high-speed paper RAM but remember, we've had high-density paper ROM since the age of micro-fine printing, and low-density paper ROM since the invention of, well, paper.

    We've also had very-slow-to-erase "eraseable ROM" on paper since the invention of the eraser.

    In prehistoric times, we had it was low-density ROM on cave walls.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  14. Fencepost error! by crepe-boy · · Score: 2

    50 micron dot + 25 micron separation = 75 microns per bit, not 100.