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Hardware Technology

Gecko's Feet Power New RAM Chips 81

Posted by Zonk from the i-don't-want-to-use-fred-flintstone's-computer dept.
An anonymous reader writes "IT Week has a story about carbon nanotubes being used to make memory chips. As the name suggests, carbon nanotubes are extremely small cylinders of carbon, and they have some similar properties to the extremely fine hairs on the feet of Geckos that enable the lizards to climb walls and hang from ceilings. The new chips work faster than current technologies, and hold their data without needing a power source." We've previously discussed this technology.
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Gecko's Feet Power New RAM Chips More

Gecko's Feet Power New RAM Chips

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  • Misleading Title (Score:5, Insightful)

    by eldavojohn ( 898314 ) * <eldavojohn@noSpAM.gmail.com> on Thursday February 02, 2006 @10:48AM (#14625634) Journal
    Carbon nanotubes are about 200 times more sticky than the gecko's foot hairs, and their semiconducting nature is being exploited to make memory chips. To put it somewhat crudely, these work by slinging tiny mats of carbon nanotubes between lumps of silicon inside a chip to form very small bridge-like structures.
    I didn't see any evidence in this article of the technology coming from inspection of Gecko feet. It appears that these "bucky tubes" where constructed and then someone said, "Oh, look, they're like setae!" I'm highly dubious that anyone studied Gecko feet and started to build silicon chips out of the tiny hairs.

    This article could more aptly be titled, "New technology happens to reflect Gecko trait."

    • You know, Slashdot titles aren't aimed at being perfect - they are aimed at being catchy, and most do a good job of it.

      Since this is not particularly a scientific journal, I'd rather have the former and have it catch my eye than being drab and something that I'd skip over.

      • You know, Slashdot titles aren't aimed at being perfect - they are aimed at being catchy, and most do a good job of it.

        Since this is not particularly a scientific journal, I'd rather have the former and have it catch my eye than being drab and something that I'd skip over.

        If all you want is an article that will grab attention and get people to read and respond to it, then all articles on Slashdot should just be titled "Linux sucks" and you will be guaranteed everyone will read them. :-P

    • I agree the title is kind of mesleading. It's actually the first time I heard about this comparison. Nanotubes are studied because of the electrical properties that thay have in relation of their small size. In other words they are the perfect candidate to substitute metal wires in circuitry. They are under study as possible hydrogen storage systems.

      So apart from the fact that they are "small", I don't really see any fitting comparison with the Gecko. Unless we could use a Gecko as the next RAM. Ah that'

    • NOT a Misleading Title (Score:5, Informative)

      by G4from128k ( 686170 ) on Thursday February 02, 2006 @11:02AM (#14625779)
      If you RTFA, you'll see that the "gecko phenomenon" is the basis for the device's retention of memory when the power is off. The bits are encoded by whether the tubules are erect (open circuit) or bent-over and touching the substrate (closed circuit). When the power is removed, the same van der Waals forces that underpin gecko toes keeps the fiber in the down position.
    • The title doesn't suggest that the technology was born out of studying Geckos. It's a catchy title to engage you in reading the article.
    • wait.. so can we make gloves and boots outta this stuff and walk around on buildings like spiderman?
    • You are right as I understand this development, these were two separate initiatives, in that they did not take the gecko feet and research the modus operandi and then say how can we apply this principle in useful technology. I think an insurance company did that.

      So any similarities to carbon tubes was mostly accidental.

  • Great News! (Score:5, Funny)

    by rAiNsT0rm ( 877553 ) on Thursday February 02, 2006 @10:49AM (#14625645) Homepage
    ...I just saved a bunch of money on my car ins...RAM Chips.

  • Nothing new (Score:3, Insightful)

    by tomalpha ( 746163 ) on Thursday February 02, 2006 @10:52AM (#14625682)
    This [trnmag.com] is [computerworld.com.au] nothing [nanotechnology.com] new [nantero.com] at [time.com] all [nytimes.com]

    I'll grant you that yes, prices have come down recently but surely every geek wants our scientific research budgets spent on a much worthier use for nanotubes. [space.com]
    • If this technology can reduce power consumption without having a drastic impact on performance, that puts us up one notch higher in efficiency. Abating an energy crisis and/or reducing energy costs can only help American industry.

      Or are we forgetting that strong industry = more taxes and that NASA gets the shaft most readily when the government feels the need to trim down its budget?

  • It's escaped (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 02, 2006 @10:55AM (#14625704)
    Hunni could you get the RAM off the ceiling again please!!

  • Shipping this year? (Score:3, Informative)

    by insert cool name ( 889389 ) on Thursday February 02, 2006 @10:55AM (#14625705)
    According to TFA they'll be shipping "later this year".

    This seems somewhat unlikely, but would be cool if it was true. High speed USB pendrive anyone?

    Little short on technical detail though. How many read-write cycles can these things do?

    --
    http://www.jarfinder.com/ [jarfinder.com]
    • According to TFA they'll be shipping "later this year".

      It really is remarkable. Revolutionary technologies that will completely change the way computers are made have been promised and promoted for years, always with ridiculously optimistic (Duke Nukem Forever style) timelines. Yet here we are today, using computers that are largely evolutions of old technologies.

      • Revolutionary technologies that will completely change the way computers are made have been promised and promoted for years, always with ridiculously optimistic (Duke Nukem Forever style) timelines.

        Indeed, just for RAM, we have MRAM [wikipedia.org], FRAM [wikipedia.org], Z-RAM [wikipedia.org] and now Carbon Nanotube RAM ... did I forget any?
        And yet, all computers are still running on conventional DRAM.

    • Well, the average Gecko's lifespan is about 20 years... so I'm thinking it will be somewhere right around there.
    • You will still be limited by the bus speed. In my experience, I've never gotten more than around 20MB/sec from USB2.0 or Firewire (1394a). That 480Mbps (60MBps) that USB 2.0 claims is a pipe dream.
    • Well I would sujest its fast!!! You ever see a geco run across your cealing. If it works that fast for him how could we humans f that up.

    • Re:Shipping this year? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Alsee ( 515537 )
      How many read-write cycles can these things do?

      I admit I'm just speculating here, but most sorts of application carbon nanotubes are damn-near indestructible. Admittedly this operation involves physical bending and flopping back and forth and would normally rais issues on mechanical wear and tear, but nanotubes are single molecules. A single molecule does not "wear and tear". I don't think these would have any meaningfull read-write cycle issues like Flash memory has.

      -
      • Molecules do wear and tear. Protiens for instance have a limited lifespan.
        • Protines are certainly subject to chemical attack, and are obvious subject to assault by all sorts of chemicals inside a cell, and subject to oxygent attack in open air. Presumably the internals of a microchip would be chemically inert and most likely a vacuum. So that really shouldn't be relevant. Oh, and comparing protines to carbon nanotubes is about the same as comparing a tomato to a diamond. Protines are complecx and fairly fragile and easily subject to all sorts of attack and damage. Carbon nanotubes

  • Not informative (Score:3, Informative)

    by karvind ( 833059 ) <karvind.gmail@com> on Thursday February 02, 2006 @11:01AM (#14625769) Journal
    TFA is completely useless, it is generic wall_street_please_all kind of tone without any technical details. And the article linked in the main story (Y-shaped nanotubes) has nothing to do with Nantero.

    We had been covering Nantero for a long time on slashdot:

    Carbon Nanotube Memory on the Way [slashdot.org]

    Nanotube Non-Volatile Memory Entering Production [slashdot.org]

    Nanotube Applications Grow And Grow [slashdot.org] (mentions about NVRAM)

    Buckminsterfullerene Strikes Again - Nanotube RAM [slashdot.org]

  • If the article is correct (which is not certain), companies will produce chips like this, "later this year".

    The article isn't clear about whether these will be engineering samples or full production products. But if they are full production products, and can be produced at volume soon after, this will be huge.

    For at least four years I've been following news about non-volatile memory technologies like MRAM (Magnetic RAM) and FeRAM (Fero-Electric RAM). The common availability of these RAMs will have massive
    • Well sounds to me like we have no more hard drive its going to be called geco hair drive.Unless hard well refer to the erection of the hair.Then its going to be called viagra drive. The drive that keeps on giving. Imagin that no more rpms. I wonder how long a drive like that would last. How large would it be in a 3 1/2 inch format. They might have a 500,000 gig hard drive. Wouldnt that be hairy
    • I agree, where the heck are all these MRAM and FeRAM systems that we were promised would be on the shelves several years ago ??? did Microsoft or the DRAMurai, or Intel, or Rambus or some other combination of these malevolent entities, sideline these either through outright manipulation of governing bodies, or manufacturers, or governments, and agencies ??? but something / someone HAD to be involved at a much higher level ... to make these technologies vanish ...
  • It looks like an entirely new form of memory. That's really something!

    If these guys manage to make this work, they'll be increidbly well off and famous.

    I love how the stuff is hundreds of times smaller than the state of the art!

  • Upcoming lizard related technology... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Churla ( 936633 ) on Thursday February 02, 2006 @11:16AM (#14625917)
    "Soft-tongue" - This will allow code to adaptively eat bugs in software. MS has been rumored to be in talks to buy this technology outright. Unfortunately it will also be unsightly enough to creep out your significant other. (which means it will fit in with most other MS software)

    "Chameleo-browser" - A new plugin for firefox which will allow porn pages, when seen from a distance to blend in with spreadsheets and become unnoticable.

    ** Note - In response to these advances the LOST (Lizard Open Source Team) has chosen to patent their genetic makeup to prevent futher abuses of their technology. NTP will be handling the patents.

  • Gecko's Feet Power New RAM Chips (Score:3, Funny)

    by Quirk ( 36086 ) on Thursday February 02, 2006 @11:22AM (#14625962) Homepage Journal
    Shouldn't that read: Gecko's Feet Feat...?

  • Boycott... (Score:2, Funny)

    by modi123 ( 750470 )

    As a long standing representative of the International Gecko Consortium, I am here by boycotting the sales of these supposed "RAM chips" for the implication and devaluing of the inherent value of our feet. We of the IGC will not stand idly by and watch you non reptilians continue to mount slanderous comments on our good name. Additionally we call into question the nature of this 'research' done by The Man - no upstanding Gecko would allow themselves to be poked, prodded, or subjected to any scientific res

  • Lizards that walk on ceilings... Ha. I suppose you have evidence that disproves Intelligent Design too....

    • Re:lizards (Score:3, Funny)

      by steve_l ( 109732 )
      The interesting thing about gecko feet is that they work in a vacuum, unlike suction pads of other things.

      This gives the evolutionaries a problem "why did geckos evolve to stick to things in a vacuum". It also gives the ID-believes a different problem "why did the intelligent designer give geckos the ability to stick to things in a vacuum"?

      it also raises another question: what experiments were done to determine which animals can stick to walls in a vaccuum, and which cant. I can imagine a large glass contai
      • Hum, perhaps the ID creator wanted them to be the space fairing species in addition to selling insurance. Funny image by the way, four little lizard feet stuck to the side of a large (gecko sized) glass container with red/greenish organic splat/matter slipping down the oposite wall of the container.

      •   This gives the evolutionaries a problem "why did geckos evolve to stick to things in a vacuum"

        They didn't. They evolved in a way that sticks to things in the atmosphere, that also happens to stick to things in a vacuum.

      • it also raises another question: what experiments were done to determine which animals can stick to walls in a vaccuum, and which cant. I can imagine a large glass container with all these animals clinging to the side, all the air being slowly sucked out and things like flies falling off as suction failes, but the geckos hanging on until the loss of air pressure causes their bodies to explode in a red pulp, leaving just four little feet, stuck to the wall.

        That'd make a great Joe Cartoon sketch.
    • Maybe the geckos are the Intelligent Designers.

      • Or maybe the intelligent designer supervisors saved a lot of money on creating the world by outsourcing to geckos.
        • Yeah, you can't build a planet unless you can walk on stuff in a vacuum.

          Who says God couldn't subcontract to the ambphibians... um... reptiles. Which one are they anyway?

  • Finally! (Score:3, Funny)

    by AugstWest ( 79042 ) on Thursday February 02, 2006 @11:56AM (#14626330)
    I can get my computer off the desk and stick it to the wall.

    "Wall mounted keyboards... It must be.... the FUTURE!" - Crow T. Robot
  • This isn't about a rendering engine?
  • Am I the only one that read the title like this: "Gecko has such a large memory footprint that advances in memory technology were necessary..."?

    Not that I actually notice Gecko being a memory hog or anything...

  • The Writer of TFA clearly doesn't know much (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SpeakerToManagers ( 890488 ) on Thursday February 02, 2006 @12:59PM (#14627074)
    He says breezily,
    Although they don't occur naturally, they have similar properties to setae ...
    The first part of that sentence is absolutely false, since buckytubes are found in large quantities in ordinary soot, for instance from candles. The only reason we can't just burn candles to make our RAM chips is that there are a lot of different kinds of tube in the soot: single-walled tubes of different chirali ties, multi-walled (concentric) tubes with different numbers of tubes nested within, and various pieces of partially-closed carbon sheets. Buckytubes interesting properties are largely the result of having tubes of a single, known, type, so soot isn't terribly useful by itself. The second part of the sentence is true, but not terribly important, since almost any nanostructure with long, thin parts would exhibit significant van der Waals force when brought in contact with a surface. That's how an atomic force microscope works. I'd say the author is dependent on press releases for everything in the article, and so I wouldn't trust anything he had to say very much, especially the statement that we'll see commercial chips this year. Speaker
  • I'm assuming these chips will retain the standard DIMM shape? And if so, how would it benefit me by dropping it into say a current motherboard? Just the ability to have very fast page reads and storage? Will it really be of benefit to consumers or more for servers?
  • Get away. You smell like feet!
  • ...as if millions of geckos suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
  • from the i-don't-want-to-use-fred-flintstone's-computer dept.

    What, you don't like Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers?

    -
  • Those bonds allow geckos to climb walls and hang from a pane of glass. Carbon nanotubes are about 200 times more sticky than the geckos foot hairs, and their semiconducting nature is being exploited to make memory chips. The coming chips cant walk up walls..."

    Then forget it.
    • No, No, you've missed the point.
      Using ordinary old spatulas spread over a couple of human hands you could hold 40kg (Dr. Kellar Autumn. Associate Professor Department of Biology 227 BioPsych Lewis & Clark College from BBC Sci/Tech 7 June 2000). Now lets go multiplying that gripiness by 200 times and I think we can call this dude Spiderman.
      Now wouldn't that stuff, as a nice big splat, at the end of a nice long nano tube rope make a lovely web swing; with the added bonus of being able to turn all those li

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