Molecular Memory: Carbon-nanotube device stores data in molecules
If all goes according to some researchers’ plans, organic molecules will replace silicon as the workhorses in electronic devices. Edging toward that goal, chemists at the University of California, Los Angeles have fabricated a memory device in which data are stored in organic molecules connected to a carbon nanotube.
Storing data in such tiny amounts of material could enable chip manufacturers to dramatically boost the storage capacity of memory devices, such as the dynamic random access memory in personal computers and the flash-memory chips in digital cameras. And UCLA team member Hsian-Rong Tseng estimates that 1 gram of these molecules could supply enough memory for all new computers worldwide for several years.