Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Data use draining your battery? Tiny device to speed up memory while also saving power
Millions of new memory cells could be part of a computer chip and [provide] speed and energy savings, thanks to the discovery of a previously unobserved functionality in a material called molybdenum ditelluride. The two-dimensional material stacks into multiple layers to build a memory cell.
Chip-maker companies have long called for better memory technologies to enable a growing network of smart devices. One of these next-generation possibilities is resistive random access memory, or RRAM for short. [...] A material would need to be robust enough for storing and retrieving data at least trillions of times, but materials currently used have been too unreliable. So RRAM hasn't been available yet for widescale use on computer chips. Molybdenum ditelluride could potentially last through all those cycles.
"We haven't yet explored system fatigue using this new material, but our hope is that it is both faster and more reliable than other approaches due to the unique switching mechanism we've observed," Joerg Appenzeller, Purdue University's Barry M. and Patricia L. Epstein Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the scientific director of nanoelectronics at the Birck Nanotechnology Center.
Electric-field induced structural transition in vertical MoTe2- and Mo1–xWxTe2-based resistive memories (DOI: 10.1038/s41563-018-0234-y) (DX)
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Toward brain-like computing: New memristor better mimics synapses
A new electronic device developed at the University of Michigan (U-M) can directly model the behaviors of a synapse, which is a connection between two neurons.
For the first time, the way that neurons share or compete for resources can be explored in hardware without the need for complicated circuits.
"Neuroscientists have argued that competition and cooperation behaviors among synapses are very important. Our new memristive devices allow us to implement a faithful model of these behaviors in a solid-state system," said Wei Lu, U-M professor of electrical and computer engineering and senior author of the study in Nature Materials.
[...] The memristor is a good model for a synapse. It mimics the way that the connections between neurons strengthen or weaken when signals pass through them. But the changes in conductance typically come from changes in the shape of the channels of conductive material within the memristor. These channels—and the memristor's ability to conduct electricity—could not be precisely controlled in previous devices.
Now, the U-M team has made a memristor in which they have better command of the conducting pathways.They developed a new material out of the semiconductor molybdenum disulfide—a "two-dimensional" material that can be peeled into layers just a few atoms thick. Lu's team injected lithium ions into the gaps between molybdenum disulfide layers.
They found that if there are enough lithium ions present, the molybdenum sulfide transforms its lattice structure, enabling electrons to run through the film easily as if it were a metal. But in areas with too few lithium ions, the molybdenum sulfide restores its original lattice structure and becomes a semiconductor, and electrical signals have a hard time getting through.
Related: This Tiny Electronic Chip Is Just 3 Atoms Thick
A New Generation of Artificial Retinas Based on 2-D Materials
Purdue University Researchers Identify Molybdenum Ditelluride as a Material for Next-Gen Memory
Ionic modulation and ionic coupling effects in MoS2 devices for neuromorphic computing (DOI: 10.1038/s41563-018-0248-5) (DX)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 15 2018, @10:46PM (1 child)
Our results are meaningless, we never did the research, send in the science groupies and psychoactive drugs...
Yet another attention-whoring science fraud, as always.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 16 2018, @12:37AM
It's true that they haven't stress tested it ... or used it with any logic gates (or any other parts of a real CPU), nor have they actually used it to store or retrieve data. But they have applied for two patents, so it's not a total waste of time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 16 2018, @12:41AM (4 children)
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Sunday December 16 2018, @12:50AM (1 child)
Wait..what?
Where did you get that from TFA?
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 16 2018, @12:52AM
Who knows. Maybe he's referring to the earlier attempts at RRAM where the materials cannot withstand the trillions of access operations? Or maybe he read an article on SSDs?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Sunday December 16 2018, @01:44AM (1 child)
If they achieve the longevity they are looking for, it should last much longer than SSDs.
The potential benefits of the universal memory approach are immense. And if you have some problem with it being glued to the CPU cores, you could use RRAM or whatever technology it ends up being separately in DIMM slots, drive bays, add-on cards, etc. Like Intel's 3D XPoint but not garbage.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 16 2018, @03:56AM
"If they achieve the longevity they are looking for, it should last much longer than SSDs."
Well yeah, that's the desired outcome.
And now, back to the ugly, hard reality of proving that their technology will do what they hope.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 17 2018, @12:15AM
Wait for it!
https://youtu.be/wVH6zy9q4n8 [youtu.be]