Stretchy, bio-inspired synaptic transistor can enhance, weaken device memories

Science Daily  October 3, 2022 A team of researchers in the US (Pennsylvania State University, University of Houston, Northwestern University, industry) has developed a stretchy, wearable synaptic transistor that works like neurons in the brain. They used stretchable bilayer semiconductor materials to fabricate the device, allowing it to stretch and twist while in use unlike the conventional transistors. The transistor is mechanically deformable and functionally reconfigurable, yet still retains its functions when stretched extensively. It can be integrated in robots or wearables and use artificial intelligence to send signals to some cells and inhibit others to enhance and weaken the […]

First steps towards revolutionary ULTRARAM™ memory chips

Science Daily  March 29, 2021 Researchers in the UK have implemented ULTRARAM which is a III-V compound semiconductor memory concept that exploits quantum resonant tunneling to achieve nonvolatility at extremely low switching energy per unit area. They exploited resonant tunneling that allows a barrier to switch from opaque to transparent by applying a small voltage. ULTRARAM™, is a working implementation of the so-called ‘universal memory’, with all the advantages of DRAM and flash, with none of the drawbacks. They integrated ULTRARAM™ devices into small (4-bit) arrays which allowed them to experimentally verify the memory architecture that would form the basis […]

Squeezing light inside memory devices could help improve performance

Nanowerk  October 6, 2020 Memristors used in a range of memory-centric technologies are driven by an externally applied potential leading to a change in electrical conductivity. The ability to look inside the memristors and understand how morphological changes characterize their function has been vital in their development. An international team of researchers (UK, USA- Perdue University) has developed a non-destructive optical spectroscopy technique that can detect the motion of a few hundred oxygen vacancies with nanometre-scale sensitivity. They constructed cavities small enough to trap light within the device. They used the tiny gap between a gold nanoparticle and a mirror […]

Memory in a metal, enabled by quantum geometry

Phys.org  September 1, 2020 Previous research had shown that when tungsten ditelluride is in a topological state, the special arrangement of atoms in its layers can produce Weyl nodes which will exhibit unique electronic properties, such as zero resistance conduction. An international team of researchers (USA – UC Berkeley, Stanford University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Texas A&M, South Korea) made odd numbered layers slide relative to even-number layers in tungsten ditelluride. The arrangement of these atomic layers represents 0 and 1 for data storage. They made use of Berry curvature to read information out. This material platform works ideally for […]

Skyrmions like it hot: Spin structures are controllable even at high temperatures

Nanowerk  February 13, 2020 When a skyrmion is driven by an electric current it propagates at skyrmion Hall angle (SkHA). This drive dependence, as well as thermal effects due to Joule heating, could be used to tailor skyrmion trajectories, but are not well understood. An international team of researchers (Germany, Belgium, USA – MIT, Czech Republic) had previously demonstrated the use of new spin structures for future magnetic storage devices. In their new research they report skyrmion dynamics as a function of temperature and drive amplitude. They found the skyrmion velocity depends strongly on temperature, while the skyrmion Hall angle […]

Light may increase magnetic memory speeds 1000 times, decrease electricity consumption

Phys.org  July 11, 2019 To reduce energy consumption in magnetic memory devices and improve their speeds, a team of researchers in the US (NIST, University of Colorado, University of Oregon) has developed a method that uses optics through localized surface plasmon resonances to couple light to nanomagnets and produce faster spintronic devices switching speeds and potential lower energy consumption. The method could ultimately lead to memory writing speeds that are 1,000 times faster than current ones…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE 

Magnetic skyrmions: Not the only ones of their class

Eurekalert  June 28, 2018 Chiral bobber (ChBs) – which is characterized by several unique properties was predicted theoretically. An international team of researchers (Germany, Sweden, Russia, China) has demonstrated the existence of chiral bobbers in thin films of B20-type FeGe by means of quantitative off-axis electron holography. They showed that ChBs can coexist with skyrmions over a wide range of parameters, which suggests their possible practical applications in novel magnetic solid-state memory devices… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE