3. INTRODUCTION
1. Scientists at HP Labs and Princeton University are excited a new
memory technology that could store more data and less cost than
traditional silicon-based chips for mobile devices such as handheld
computers, cell phones and MP3 players.
2. A conducting plastic has been used to create a new memory technology
with the potential to store a megabit of data in a millimeter-square device
- 10 times denser than current magnetic memories.
3.The device will also be cheap and fast, but cannot be rewritten, so
would only be suitable for permanent storage.
4. CONSTRUCTION OF PLASTIC MEMORY
1. The device sandwiches a blob of a conducting polymer called
PEDOT and a silicon diode between two perpendicular wires.
2. The passing of high current through PEDOT turns it into an
insulator. The polymers two possible states, conductor or insulator,
then form the one and zero necessary to store digital data.
3. "The beauty of the device is that it combines the best of silicon
technology - diodes - with the capability to form a fuse, which does
not exist in silicon“.
5. CONSTRUCTION OF PLASTIC MEMORY
However, turning the polymer INTO an insulator involves a permanent
chemical change, meaning the memory can only be written to once.
6. READ AND WRITE
To store the memory, the researchers use the wires and the diode
surrounding the PEDOT blob to run either a high or a low current
through it. This either creates an insulator or leaves it as a conductor.
7. READ
To read the memory the current is run through the top wire and
measure the current in the bottom wire. No current means the bit is a
zero, and vice versa.
The Hewlett-Packard team is now working on building a grid of
intersecting wires. In this way, they can read and write multiple bits to
one device. A grid system is commonly used in display screens to switch
individual pixels.
WRITE
With the introduction of high voltages, the PEDOT fuses would blow
and represent the zeros while unblown fuses would represent the ones
that make up computerized data and digital images.
8. ADVANTAGES OF PLASTIC MEMORY
1. Plastic memory is fast. Lab-built devices typically 2-10 MB/s read, 1-4
MB/s write.
2. It requires far fewer transistors, typically only 0.5M (million) for
1GB of storage compared to silicon's 1.5-6.5B (billion).
3. It costs about 5% as much to manufacture compared to silicon-based
memory.
4. It has very low power consumption.
5. It maintains memory even when the power is turned off. Nothing
new compared to flash, but worth mentioning.
9. CONCLUSION
The technology combines the characteristics of a CD and conventional
memory chip.
It bears similarities to CD’s in that when data is written to it, it
undergoes permanent physical change it does not use a laser to write
the information.
Similarly to a memory chip, it plugs directly into an electronic circuit
and has no memory parts.
The new memory technology promises to store more data at less cost
than the expense to build chips used by popular consumer gadgets.