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Discovery of a 'holy grail' with the invention of universal computer memory

2 pointsby giladalmost 6 years ago

1 comment

Quequaualmost 6 years ago
In my opinion the title of the original paper is much better, in that it&#x27;s not clickbait. It&#x27;s &quot;Room-temperature Operation of Low-voltage, Non-volatile, Compound-semiconductor Memory Cells&quot;<p>And it&#x27;s here:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nature.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;s41598-019-45370-1" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nature.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;s41598-019-45370-1</a><p>Moreover the abstract is probably a better foundation to base discussion on:<p><i>Whilst the different forms of conventional (charge-based) memories are well suited to their individual roles in computers and other electronic devices, flaws in their properties mean that intensive research into alternative, or emerging, memories continues. In particular, the goal of simultaneously achieving the contradictory requirements of non-volatility and fast, low-voltage (low-energy) switching has proved challenging. Here, we report an oxide-free, floating-gate memory cell based on III-V semiconductor heterostructures with a junctionless channel and non-destructive read of the stored data. Non-volatile data retention of at least 104 s in combination with switching at ≤2.6 V is achieved by use of the extraordinary 2.1 eV conduction band offsets of InAs&#x2F;AlSb and a triple-barrier resonant tunnelling structure. The combination of low-voltage operation and small capacitance implies intrinsic switching energy per unit area that is 100 and 1000 times smaller than dynamic random access memory and Flash respectively. The device may thus be considered as a new emerging memory with considerable potential.</i><p>With all that out of the way, I find new memory tech to be one of the interesting niches of IT R&amp;D going on today. So I hope this winds up going further.