Graphene memory

With all the progress being made understanding and applying the physics of graphene nowadays, it was only a matter of time until physicists would be able to come up with computational and memory devices made from graphene. I had already reported the first graphene transistor but now it seems a team of physicists from Rice University have come up with a design for a graphene memory cell, as reported in physorg.com.

It appears the new memory cell design works mechanically, although the article does not explain exactly how. Yet the properties of the graphene memory cells seem extremely promising: they function at temperatures ranging from minus 75 to plus 200 degrees centigrade with no discernible effect and most importantly, their on-off power ratio reaches a million-to-one, which makes them extremely reliable. Another interesting quality of the graphene memory cell is that they function with only two gates as opposed to three for existing memory gate technologies, which would allow chip designers to stack them in layers and manufacture three-dimensional memory devices. Finally, the switching speed of the graphene memory gates is so fast it has so far not been possible to measure.

I can't wait for these new iPods with graphene memory that can hold all the music ever recorded and all feature films ever shot. And you bet this gizmo will be implanted directly in our brains!