Scientists working in the University of Texas have made an astonishing discovery where they have created the world’s smallest atom memory unit which is also way more energy-efficient and faster.
This discovery is a result of the brain inspired computing which could eventually lead to the creation of electronic chips for memory purposes.
Not only this, the scientists have also been able to understand the physics behind the unlocking of dense memory storage capabilities for these tiny atom sized devices. The size of this atom is close to that of a single square nanometre which shrinks the cross-section area as well.
According to the scientists who made this discovery, the main job was to understand the physics behind the unlocking process. Once that step was done, the entire process became smooth, and enabled them to make the device as small as could be feasible.
This discovery will not only stay limited to the memory chip domain but can be used elsewhere and would be very helpful to all the scientists to shrink down the size of the chips without having to decrease either its speed or its efficiency.
What this means in simple words is that now devices will be made smarter and faster without having to use truckloads of power to do the same.
The scientists also added that while making the chip, the entire focus was not only on making the memory device thinner but also making sure that it takes a smaller cross-sectional area.
What was mainly accomplished in this entire study was scaling down the size to such an extent that a single atom controls the entire memory function. The new device made by the scientists falls under the categorisation of memristors which is an area of memory research centred primarily around electrical components.
These will be smaller than the memory devices currently used among all the spectrums and will boost the memory storage despite their size. Approximately, the storage promised by these devices will be more than a 100 times than the currently available commercial flash memory devices.