Text 7139, 59 rader
Skriven 2005-09-11 21:32:06 av Mike '/m' (1:379/45)
Ärende: New microchip design could be the key to expanding mobile phone memory
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From: Mike '/m' <mike@barkto.com>


http://www.imperial.ac.uk/P6807.htm

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Mobile phones could one day have the memory capacity of a desktop computer
thanks to a microchip that mimics the functioning of the brain, scientists
report today (9 September) in the journal Science.

Researchers from Imperial College London, Durham University and the University
of Sheffield say their new computer chip design will enable large amounts of
data to be stored in small volumes by using a complex interconnected network of
nanowires, with computing functions and decisions performed at the nodes where
they meet a similar approach to neurons and axons in the brain.

Currently the memory chips of mobile phones have a very limited capacity,
making it impossible to store the videos that the new generation of phones can
record. Electronics firms have been looking at miniature hard drive disks as a
possible solution but so far the high expense of this option has rendered it
unattractive.

This latest research, however, has the potential to develop a chip that
combines the storage capability of a hard drive with the low cost of memory
cards, potentially increasing memory capacity by 200 times from an average of
500MB to around 100GB.

Lead researcher Russell Cowburn , Professor of Nanotechnology in Imperial's
Department of Physics, explains: "The new video mobile phones are very popular,
but they desperately need more memory so that people can take longer videos and
store them. This technology has the potential to transform mobiles into fully
functioning video cameras, in addition to a range of other applications."

The technology is based on the discovery by Professor Cowburn and colleagues
that by using nanotechnology it is possible to reproduce the key functions of
semiconductor electronics in microchips using only the
'spin' of electrons, which is responsible for magnetism, rather than the
more conventional 'charge' that traditional microchips use.

This has allowed them to construct a completely new architecture for
electronics in three dimensions rather than the two dimensional flat structure
of conventional microchips, an approach Professor Cowburn compares to using
cupboards instead of table tops for storing goods. He says:

"Traditionally we have used electronics for microchips and magnetism for hard
disk drives. This discovery allows us to combine these two approaches to make a
new generation of 3D microchips that can store so much more information than a
flat two dimensional surface."

The team is now working with commercial partners to develop the technology and
is currently building a more advanced demonstrator chip using full microchip
manufacturing facilities....
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 /m

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