New nano tech developed
Korean researchers have developed an advanced high-density nano material that eventually could be transformed into a next-generation memory device, a state-run research foundation said yesterday.
The National Research Foundation of Korea said a team led by Kim Jin-kon, a professor of chemical engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology, created a 20 nanometer-level ferroelectric material. A nanometer is equal to one-billionth of a meter (3.3 feet).
It said the nano material has all the good characteristics of ferroelectrics, yet it is much smaller than similar devices built in the past. The smallest ferroelectric material is 60 nanometers in size. Ferroelectric material has generated considerable interest because of its ability to maintain its polarization without an electrical field. This quality allows it to be used in sensors, and it can be employed as a non-volatile memory device.
Non-volatile devices are expected to replace the ubiquitous dynamic random access memory chips (DRAM) used by all computers today. DRAMs are volatile memory devices that lose data when they have no power source.
Such a material, if it can be made into chips, could cut back on energy use and significantly reduce the booting time of computers, the foundation said.
The research foundation claimed this could allow it to be utilized in futuristic computers. The discovery has been published in the latest Internet edition of the Nano Letters journal.
