Now entire library on chip developed by Indian-American
April 29th, 2010 - 2:56 pm ICT by IANSWashington, April 29 (IANS) An Indian-American scientist has developed a computer chip that can store an unprecedented amount of data - enough to hold an entire library.
The new chip stems from a breakthrough in the use of nanodots, or nanoscale magnets, and represents a significant advance in computer-memory technology.
“We have created magnetic nanodots that store one bit of information on each nanodot, allowing us to store over one billion pages of information in a chip that is one square inch,” says Jay Narayan, professor of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU).
Narayan, a product of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, conducted the study.
The breakthrough is that these nanodots are made of single, defect-free crystals, creating magnetic sensors that are integrated directly into a silicon electronic chip.
These nanodots, which can be made uniformly as small as six nanometres in diameter, are all precisely oriented in the same way - allowing programmers to reliably read and write data to the chips, an NCSU release said. A nanometre is the billionth of a metre.
The chips themselves can be manufactured cost-effectively but the next step is to develop magnetic packaging that will enable users to take advantage of the chips - using something, such as laser technology, that can effectively interact with the nanodots.
The research was presented at the Materials Research Society Spring Meeting in San Francisco.
- Nanodots breakthrough could pave way for 'a library on one chip' - Apr 29, 2010
- Magnetic computers could use million times less energy - Jul 06, 2011
- Faster smart sensors in the offing - Apr 21, 2010
- IBM creates world's smallest 3D map - Apr 26, 2010
- Egg-shaped nanomagnets could support future data storage systems - Apr 28, 2011
- Researchers programme molecular robots - May 14, 2010
- New technique shows molecular-sized objects with greater clarity - Jul 04, 2011
- Superfast MRAM with low power consumption on the anvil - Mar 09, 2011
- Rainbow-trapping scientist opens up new possibilities for data storage - Apr 13, 2011
- Engineers find nanolasers for faster microprocessors - Feb 07, 2011
- Spintronics: Next 'eco friendly' generation of electronics - Aug 10, 2010
- Heat helps break processing speed barriers - Feb 08, 2012
- Supercomputers could some day think as fast as human brain - Dec 02, 2010
- Samsung's melting memory chips set to revolutionise mobile technology - Sep 26, 2009
- Transparent 3-D chips to power next gen computers - Mar 28, 2012
Tags: american scientist, billionth, computer chip, computer memory, electronic chip, entire library, indian institute of technology, laser technology, magnetic sensors, materials research society, materials science and engineering, memory technology, nanodot, nanometre, nanoscale magnets, narayan, ncsu, north carolina state university, one billion, spring meeting