Nanotubes is an area a number of companies has ventured for and there is certainly a lot of research going on. We have earlier reported about the German company Nantero that has successfully made 22nm circuits with these. Nantero’s main focus was on SRAM and DRAM, but now scientists at University of California has made progress on how to use nanotubes with NVRAM (Non-volatile Random Access Memory), a type of memory that doesn’t lose its stored data when the power goes off, for example flash memory. The big advantage with nanotubes is its size and speed in comparison with regular silicon-based transistors.
Researchers have used a version of nanotubes based on multi-walled CNT(Carbon NanoTubes). They’ve used a larger nanotube with a smaller tube, closed at both ends, inside and through movement of the inner tube it is possible to create connections between surfaces.
“We have demonstrated that the two telescoped positions of the double-walled carbon nanotube, (b) and (c) in above figure, are both stable, and the switching time from one position to the other is as short as 0.01 nano-seconds/…/This finding leads to a promising potential to build ultrafast high-density nonvolatile memory, up to 100 gigahertz or into the terahertz range. Realization of ultrafast high-density nonvolatile memory units will bring a broad range of applications in electronics.”
:: More information at nanowerks
:: Original article in Nanotechnology 9 (7 March 2007)
