I'm worried my last comment was flagged as spam because I referenced this post I just wrote explaining a key challenge any proposed nanoscale memory faces. Hopefully this one will appear.
The thing to remember about this kind of stuff is simply having a way to store bits isn't enough to make an actual memory. You also need a way to control the storage technology.
To demonstrate their copper-based storage technology, researchers placed a nanoscale device between two much larger electrodes. They showed that it could reliably store data, by using the electrodes to read and write to the device. To build an actually memory, however, one would need a way to control billions of these devices. The large electrodes would need to be replaced by an additional nanoscale technology
One approach would be to create a grid of nanoscale, and place the devices between each pair of perpendicular nanoscale wires. As luck would have it, such grids of tightly packed nanowires have already been produced. Unfortunately, no one has demonstrated a way of efficiently controlling the individual nanowires that make up the grid. Until we have a way of individually controlling nanoscale wires, we can't take advantage of nanoscale storage technology.
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I'm worried my last comment was flagged as spam because I referenced this post I just wrote explaining a key challenge any proposed nanoscale memory faces. Hopefully this one will appear.
The thing to remember about this kind of stuff is simply having a way to store bits isn't enough to make an actual memory. You also need a way to control the storage technology.
To demonstrate their copper-based storage technology, researchers placed a nanoscale device between two much larger electrodes. They showed that it could reliably store data, by using the electrodes to read and write to the device. To build an actually memory, however, one would need a way to control billions of these devices. The large electrodes would need to be replaced by an additional nanoscale technology
One approach would be to create a grid of nanoscale, and place the devices between each pair of perpendicular nanoscale wires. As luck would have it, such grids of tightly packed nanowires have already been produced. Unfortunately, no one has demonstrated a way of efficiently controlling the individual nanowires that make up the grid. Until we have a way of individually controlling nanoscale wires, we can't take advantage of nanoscale storage technology.
Hmm, guess the link isn't going to appear, but if you're interested just google my name or perhaps "overheard in providence"