Researchers have developed a new design for computer memory that could both greatly improve performance and reduce the energy demands of internet and communications technologies, which are predicted to consume nearly a third of global electricity within the next ten years.
The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, developed a device that processes data in a similar way as the synapses in the human brain. The devices are based on hafnium oxide, a material already used in the semiconductor industry, and tiny self-assembled barriers, which can be raised or lowered to allow electrons to pass.
This method of changing the electrical resistance in computer memory devices, and allowing information processing and memory to exist in the same place, could lead to the development of computer memory devices with far greater density, higher performance and lower energy consumption. The results are reported in the journal Science Advances.
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