Two new supertreillis (English superlattice) developed by U.S. researchers could facilitate the creation of RRAM, a new memory that is supposed to replace flash memory once its fine print will not increase anymore.

New Materials

A supertreillis is a lattice (a poset) consisting of two or more layers of different materials each having a thickness of several nanometers. The ensemble of semi-conductive properties different from those materials separately.

Scientists at The University of Science and Technology Missouri say it is possible to design chips RRAM faster, smaller and consume less energy one using one of two supertreillis developed. The first is composed of layers incorporating different mixtures of zinc ferrite, while the other uses different mixtures of magnetite. Both have a resistance that can be quickly modified according to the voltage across the semiconductor. It is even possible to have intermediate resistance states thereby storing more than one bit per cell.

New Memory

The RRAM (resistive random-access memory) are nonvolatile memories that are studied by large market players, such as HP, Fujitsu, Sharp or a subsidiary of AMD, adesto, but also Samsung, Hynix, Elpida and Micron. Its operation is similar to that of the PRAM. The system analyzes the resistance of the dielectric material to determine if a cell contains a 1 or a 0. These memories are promising, because if there is concern that the Flash memory can not exceed 22 nm, RRAM in principle a much larger margin. The latest prototypes show RRAM cells can change state in 10 ns and requesting a current of less than 30 uA. This is faster than the PRAM or MRAM for reduced consumption.

Laboratories conducting this research has received a grant of $ 700 000 (approx. 500 000 €) U.S. Department of Energy and the results were published last January 7 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.