Small, Fast, and Highly Energy-Efficient Memory Device Inspired by Lithium-Ion Batteries
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Scientists at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) have developed a new three-valued memory device inspired by solid lithium-ion batteries. The proposed device, which has an extremely low energy consumption, may be key for the development of more energy-efficient and faster random-access memory (RAM) components, which are ubiquitous in modern computers.
[...] A research team from Tokyo Tech led by Prof. Taro Hitosugi and student Yuki Watanabe recently reached a new milestone in this area. These researchers had previously developed a novel memory device inspired by the design of solid lithium-ion batteries. It consisted of a stack of three solid layers made of lithium, lithium phosphate and gold. This stack is essentially a miniature low-capacity battery that functions as a memory cell; it can be quickly switched between charged and discharged states that represent the two possible values of a bit. However, gold combines with lithium to form a thick alloy layer, which increases the amount of energy required to switch from one state to the other.
In their latest study, the researchers created a similar three-layer memory cell using nickel instead of gold. They expected better results using nickel because it does not easily form alloys with lithium, which would lead to lower energy consumption when switching. The memory device they produced was much better than the previous one; it could actually hold three voltage states instead of two, meaning that it is a three-valued memory device. "This system can be viewed as an extremely low-capacity thin-film lithium battery with three charged states," explains Prof. Hitosugi. This is a very interesting feature with potential advantages for three-valued memory implementations, which may be more area efficient.
More information: Yuki Watanabe et al, Low-Energy-Consumption Three-Valued Memory Device Inspired by Solid-State Batteries, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2019). DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b15366
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