It is known that during the operation of any computing system in its depths there are undesirable delays associated with the need to transfer data blocks or program code from one place to another. Most often, long delays occur during the transfer of data from fast RAM to slow hard drives and vice versa, and the solution to this problem can be the use of large arrays of non-volatile memory, which must be as fast as dynamic random access memory, and inexpensive in order to it could be included in the system in sufficient quantity.
And one of the promising types of such fast non-volatile memory is phase-change memory (PCM), which will be discussed below.
Memory based on the effect of phase transitions works by switching the active element of each cell from crystalline to amorphous state and vice versa. However, the practical use of this type of memory was very difficult due to some problems. The main problem here is that the material used as an active element, gallium antimonide, for example, exfoliates and loses its “phase” properties at temperatures above 377 degrees Celsius (650 Kelvin). Therefore, elements made of such materials are extremely difficult to include in the crystals of semiconductor chips, because some stages of the technological process of their production include high-temperature processing.
The solution to the problem of producing nanowires from amorphous materials, which are active elements of memory cells, is an innovative process developed by scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). The most interesting thing about the new process is that for the first time a "living" biological object - the bacteriophage virus M13 - appears as the main character.
The modified M13 viruses, artificially “spurred on” by a special external action, act as builders creating the thinnest nanowires from tin-germanium oxide, a material that can act as an active element of a phase memory cell. At the same time, the “construction” process proceeds under normal conditions and the conductors made of the material fully retain all their “phase” properties.
Researchers are currently working on improving the technology for controlling the activity of M13 viruses, which will soon make it possible to use these viruses to make nanowires of strictly specified length and diameter. "After that, making non-volatile PCM memory chips will be a breeze," the researchers write. "And then the new memory will eliminate millisecond delays, which will increase the speed and efficiency of both conventional computers and supercomputers of any performance level."
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