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Researchers at the University of Illinois claim to have made a step forward in materials technology (PCM) phase change that could extend battery life by up to two orders of magnitude, or 100 times.
The team, led by Professor Eric Pop, carbon nanotube electrodes used, it said in a paper published in the journal Science.
It is established that the programming voltage and energy are highly scalable.
"As academic researchers, we will continue to focus on reducing power dissipation limits until reaching almost essential" Pop told TechNewsWorld.
"We believe that another factor of 10 lower power is possible," he added.
PCM stores bits in the resistance of the material used.
Pop team created a bit by putting a small amount of PCM in a nanoscale gap formed in the midst of a carbon nanotube, according to an article on the website of the University of Illinois.
The team turned the bit on and off by small currents passing through nanotubes.
The alveolar wall carbon nanotubes and small diameter have been used in research instead of metal wires that are the industry standard.
Carbon nanotubes are smaller conductors of electricity, according to Pop. They are also very stable, since they do not degrade like wire. In addition, PCM material that serves as the bit cannot be deleted accidentally by electro-magnetic forces from a scanner or a magnet, unlike regular magnetic storage nearby.
The tiny size of nanotubes-10,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair-reduced the amount of electricity required.
Pop Team included David Estrada, Albert Liao and Feng Xiong.
The research was supported by the research programme of the Centre of focus and the Office of Naval Research of the United States.
"PCM is one of those interesting technologies-is basically a result of chemical changes and tension," Analyst Jim McGregor, chief technology of In-Stat, told TechNewsWorld. "
IBM (NYSE: IBM) been working on phase change memory since at least 2006. Zurich Labs offer this definition a little circular: PCM technology is a technology for memory non-volatile solid state that uses phase-change materials.
That brings us to the question is that a phase change material. The term refers to substances that have a high heat of fusion that can store and release large amounts of energy when they change from solid to liquid state or vice versa.
Sounds very similar to what the ice, no? There are several types of organic-inorganic PCMs, eutectic, and hygroscopic.
Paraffin wax is an organic PCM; hydrates of salts are inorganic PCMs. Eutectics can be organic or a combination of organic and inorganic materials. They consist of a mixture of chemical compounds or elements that have a unique chemical composition. An example is eutectic solders, consisting of Tin and lead. Hygroscopic materials absorb and release water, energy in the process of liberation. Wool is a material of hygroscope used in buildings.
PCM offers good data retention and scalability of performance and scalability to the ultra-compact size.
PCM may be used in batteries. It can also be used as a replacement for hard drives, flash (Solid-state Drive) and maybe even chip RAM, Pop said.
"People were watching PCM for some time, because they're hoping that will flash memory limitations, says In-Stat's McGregor.
PCM can go head-to-head with another technology-IBM Racetrack memory which is worked on.
Racetrack memory has data races around a wire "track," using the spin of the electron to store data. There are parts subject to wear and racetrack memory can be rewritten multiple times without any wear and tear, unlike conventional memory.
"It is likely that racetrack memory will compete to some extent with PCM," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld. "The two seem to have similar uses."
Several obstacles remain before actually PCM technology hits the market.
"Could be about 10 years, but some challenges on mass production of carbon nanotubes for circuits must be processed first, Pop said.
There are also production problems that may require 10-15 years of work before the PCM technology can actually hit the market, "said Enderle.
However, the military could get to it earlier, as "the military has a huge need for this kind of thing and the money to spend to accelerate," opined Enderle.
Other considerations, the main of which is cost, also come into play.
"Just like any other memory technology in our industry-we need billions and billions of dollars to make it competitive and bring to market, and that barrier is getting higher and higher," In-Stat McGregor has noted.
"So the question now is when flash is running out of steam, because the industry does not pull together the money until it is absolutely necessary," said McGregor.
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