A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge has introduced an innovative computer memory design that holds the potential to significantly enhance performance and reduce energy consumption in internet and communications technologies.
According to the university, the growing demands of artificial intelligence (AI), algorithms, and data-driven technologies are projected to consume over 30% of global electricity within the next decade. The researchers attribute a large part of this energy demand to the limitations of current computer memory technologies.
The team explored a new form of technology called resistive switching memory. Unlike traditional memory devices that encode data in binary states (0 or 1), this novel memory type allows for a continuous range of states. By applying an electrical current to specific materials, the electrical resistance can be increased or decreased, enabling the storage of data in different possible states.
Dr. Markus Hellenbrand, the study’s first author from Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, explained that a USB stick based on this continuous range memory could store between ten and 100 times more information compared to conventional devices.
The researchers developed a prototype device using hafnium oxide, a material that posed challenges for resistive switching memory applications due to its lack of atomic-level structure. However, the team found a solution by introducing barium into the mix. Barium formed highly structured “bridges” between thick films of hafnium oxide. These bridges created energy barriers at the device contacts, allowing electrons to cross. By raising or lowering the energy barrier, the resistance of the hafnium oxide composite could be changed, enabling multiple states within the material.
Hellenbrand emphasized the exciting potential of these materials, as they can function like synapses in the brain, storing and processing information in the same location.
The researchers believe that this breakthrough could lead to the development of computer memory devices with higher density and performance, coupled with lower energy consumption. This technology holds particular promise in the field of AI and machine learning.
Cambridge Enterprise, the university’s commercialization arm, has filed a patent for the technology, and the scientists are collaborating with industry partners to conduct larger feasibility studies. The integration of hafnium oxide into existing manufacturing processes is expected to be feasible since the material is already utilized in semiconductor production.
By Impact Lab