IBM Demos Single-Atom DRAM 150
An anonymous reader writes "A single-atom DRAM was demonstrated by IBM recently with a slow-mo movie of the atomic process of setting and erasing a bit on a single atom. Videos of atomic processes inside chips were not possible until now, leading to IBM's claim that its pulsed-STM (used to make the movie) will lead to a new atomic-scale semiconductor industry, and not just for memory chips, according to this EETimes story: 'The ultimate memory chips of the future will encode bits on individual atoms, a capability recently demonstrated for iron atoms by IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., which unveiled a new pulsed technique for scanning tunneling microscopes (STMs). Pulsed-STMs yield nanosecond time-resolution, a requirement for designing the atomic-scale memory chips, solar panels and quantum computers of the future, but also for making super efficient organic solar cells by controlling photovoltaic reactions on the atomic level.'"
On speeding up the atoms... (Score:1, Funny)
Does microwaving it make it go faster?
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Only if you coat it with instant coffee first.
where on the periodic table? (Score:4, Funny)
are we talking H or Uuq sized DRAM? because I don't want to be obsolete within a year.
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Where on the DRAM spectrum? (Score:2)
Dynamic? The atom needs a refresh cycle?
Random Access? It is addressed by a row/column or similar structure?
Memory... ok, one bit, yes?
Doesn't "DRAM" strike anyone else as almost entirely not applicable?
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Re:Where on the DRAM spectrum? (Score:5, Funny)
Who would want to carry around a cryostat with [their] laptop?
Just slap an Apple logo on it, and people will never leave home without it.
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What about the e+ memory? I heard that it's completely incompatible with the e-.
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So that will be the year of Linux.... hehehehe
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Putting e+ and e- memory together causes a matter-antimatter reaction and releases all magic smoke particles inside your computer
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Putting e+ and e- memory together causes a matter-antimatter reaction and releases all magic smoke particles inside your neighborhood
FTFY
Re:where on the periodic table? (Score:4, Funny)
And we come full circle. IBM started with Iron core memory, and now they're doing it again.
Re:where on the periodic table? (Score:5, Informative)
funny, but actually IBM started with punched cards for external storage, gears for internal memory, and later patch panels for ROM.
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/tabulator.html [columbia.edu]
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. . . and don't forget, meat choppers: http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/vintage/vintage_4506VV2154.html [ibm.com] . . . for . . . ?
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ah, a cluster of Baloney Sausage processors! Good to know IBM has been handling B.S. for so long.....
A video explaining how it works (Score:5, Informative)
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An interesting video, but he screwed up his nanosecond time
analogy. A nanosecond is to a second as a second is to 30
years, not 3 years as he states. (See time around 2:05)
Still, an interesting concept (and yes, I'm picking nits)
Just one atom? (Score:5, Funny)
One atom ought to be enough for anybody.
(Sorry)
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Make that 640k atoms
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Make that 640k atoms
And a cassette.
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one Atom and one Elise.
one F1 though should be enough on it's own, so long as your a mechanic.
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"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers"
But who said it? Not Thomas Watson [wikipedia.org]
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Yup... one atom is exactly the amount that is supported by current generation of the IBM hardware. So actually it is insightful instead of funny.
Has not already happend yet... (Score:5, Interesting)
So this has not already happened (as the article implies) but is an idea for future development.
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I think the ultimate will be encoding in nucleons or even quarks.
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Why not use Ogg?
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It won't work on my iPod
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I thought there were apps for everything with apple products? (note heavy use of sarcasm)
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what about using space, you get probability/analogue then.
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No, the ultimate will be state-encoding a superstring.
(assuming they exist)
(and have states)
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IBM have written their name in atoms with variants on the electron microscope. So in a way they have built single atom RAM. Its just not fast enough yet.
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It was accessed with a needle (maybe an atomic force microscope) which could be positioned arbitrarily. So for me reads and writes were both random as we use the term for memory.
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From TFA: ...snip...
So this has not already happened (as the article implies) but is an idea for future development.
When you quote the article to dispute what the article implied something is seriously wrong. Either the fabric of the universe has become distorted and ... difficult ... or you don't know the difference* between the summary and the article.
*slashdot editors
Moview? (Score:1)
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Yo, dawg, it biggah. Mo' view.
Even more vulnerable to radiation? (Score:3, Interesting)
Don't electronics become more susceptible as they become smaller? How much redundancy would be needed now that you only have a single atom to hold a bit of memory?
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Can't wait for a 1 PB "harddrive" which looks like a grain of sand!
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
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Big deal... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Big deal... (Score:5, Funny)
I overclocked mine and it split :(
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Atoms (Score:2, Funny)
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And instead of deleting, you just nuke it.
So.. Much as it seems like it, this does not quash (Score:2)
Moore's Law.
It just means we'll start looking at sub-atomic particles as new storage methods...
Re:So.. Much as it seems like it, this does not qu (Score:4, Informative)
Re:So.. Much as it seems like it, this does not qu (Score:4, Informative)
And that single atom in a RAM cell doesn't count as a transistor?
If it performs the same functions, there is no reason to not apply the same law.
Oh, hey, look, we've got Transistors with THREE atoms.
ONE atom shouldn't be a problem. If it acts like a transistor, it's a transistor.
A transistor either acts as an amplifier or an electrical signal switch.
Therefore, a single-atom DRAM cell would be using single-atom transistors.
Want to try making this argument against someone *NOT* deeply involved in this industry?
Re:So.. Much as it seems like it, this does not qu (Score:5, Informative)
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For which we'll need new physics rather than new technology, unfortunately.
Re:So.. Much as it seems like it, this does not qu (Score:4, Interesting)
Nope, there are lots of subatomic places where we could store information. The spin on electrons, for example. Another simple alternative would be to use the photovoltaic effect to move electrons up and down energy levels. Fire a photon at the atom to move the electron up one energy level, measure its charge to find the current one.
Of course, when I say simple, I mean in terms of theoretical physics [smbc-comics.com]. In terms of engineering, it's quite the opposite.
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I wouldn't have considered either spin or energy level of the electron subatomic.
I was wondering where you were going to store information on a quark, for example.
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...which would quash Moore's Law. Hint: moving from hitting an engineering target of improving a well-understood process to inventing an entirely new one will change the rate of progress.
No-one has invented a buzzword to cover this yet, alongside all of the curve-jumping bullshit. I nominate progress-refraction as a suitable misunderstanding of a physical process for MBAs
Not anywhere near ready for prime time (Score:4, Interesting)
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The best place for data centers *IS* in orbit. We just need to perfect the communication between orbit and ground. Solar powered and vacuum cooled. Can't get much cheaper for operational expenses. Maitenance could be a pain though.
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"vacuum cooled"
Umm, no, Vacuums make damned good insulators and space has no place to radiate out heat unless there is another physical object VERY NEAR the heat-emitting equipment.
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Yeah its definitely the best place for a datacenter, except for the high cost of deployment, the high cost of maintenance, the high cost of establishing a data link to the ground, and the the high latency.
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"However, it has no meaningful direct link to ANY deployable technology."
At least, as far as your poorly-educated mind can fathom. I've already got about seven different product ideas that this technology could be applied to, starting with atomic-level light emission.
Maybe if you actually worked in the industry, you could think of uses. It's pretty apparent that you don't work in this field, however, with your statement.
Great. (Score:2)
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Don't worry, just get one of the "32GB kingston microSD" from ebay, the screen printing is so blocky its great, shame about the failure rate though.
Nothing to see here (Score:2, Funny)
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We Others just call them locks ;)
How many atoms in the sensor? (Score:3, Insightful)
Call me when the sense hardware is only an atom per bit.
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Considering one uses electrons to sense atoms in this technique because electrons are smaller than protons and neutrons, you could have a fifty atom-wide sensor and still get the required resolution.
Come on, now, you should know better.
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so a circular sensor would be about 2000 atoms if it were only 1 atom thick, and that's ignoring the electronics necessary to operate each sensor (since you can't move such a tiny sensor). Come on, you should know better.
What happened to editing? (Score:2)
"... on the next Science"? Hmm... Maybe that means on the next cover of Science [sciencemag.org]? Maybe a little editing could fix that? And maybe typographical errors like "moview" could be fixed? Perhaps by actually reading the summary, Timothy?
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Thank you. I thought that perhaps it was some inside language with quantum scientists that I didn't understand. And I'm an EE.
Just One Bit? (Score:4, Interesting)
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That is what I was thinking. Why couldn't we encode on the electron levels instead? Granted, we'd need serious computational power to figure out which atom would remain the most stable while we screw with the valence shells, but this shouldn't be TOO much of a problem.
Organic solar cells? (Score:1, Interesting)
but also for making super efficient organic solar cells by controlling photovoltaic reactions on the atomic level
Where did that quote come from? All I saw was a vague mention of measuring the efficiency of solar cells. Not sure why they can't measure the efficiency of the ones they have already.
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They're talking about using this technology for plant-based (structure-wise) solar panel designs. Plants have a rather unique solar-powered system with quantum effects through the different types of chlorophyll that we don't fully understand, although we've made some breakthroughs with red and blue wavelengths and chlorophyll a and b (the others are found primarily in marine plant life, or cyanobacteria, and are useless for us to target.)
And by Moore's Law... (Score:2)
Re:And by Moore's Law... (Score:5, Funny)
1 year after that we will be encoding data on quarks themselves.....
6 months later we will make neutrinos our bitches for storing and processing data....
3 months after that we will be creating even smaller particles from cosmic strings to process and store data int he fabric of spacetime.
1 day later we will make God cry.
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And then we'll store the entire planet's data in an office desk drawer somewhere.
2 weeks later we will find out the hard way that no-one made any backups.
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Single proton? How about throughout the entire valence shell, on every level, with every electron?
Granted, for more dense stuff with the one-off addition against the electron shells, protons would likely be the better way to go, though we haven't been able to measure the delta spin of protons or neutrons (As far as my weak knowledge can recall,) but we have it for electrons.
This MS I Fnd in a Lbry... (Score:2)
Says we should skip atoms and go directly to cospatial nudged quanta.
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Well, my big theory involves using quantum distances as a quantification of binary/trinary data. I don't think it will work with quaternary but trinary should not be too hard to do and allow enough error-correction space to differentiate between the 'bits.'
Next up (Score:2)
Next up on Slashdot, the RIAA is now demoing a single-atom DRM. Will the minuscule security it provides make a difference? Find out three redirects from the blog post we link!
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the RIAA are busy preparing the conditions for a big bang of a new universe with DRM built in at the subatomic level.Unfortunately, I predict that the encryption key will get leaked and they will either be forced to recall the entire universe, or just admit that they can't EVER stop you from doing whatever the heck you want with the content you purchased.
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I've already cracked their master-copy machines (own one myself for my own music recordings, and the data trace protection is WEAK,) so as it stands right now, unless they CAN modify the universe or come out with a new technology that I (or my company) can't purchase and bypass, they're SOL.
I made it a lifelong goal to screw the assholes screwing us, and I'm pretty close to having enough money and power to do it.
I will become the lobbyist you always dreamed of - one that actually cared about humanity instea
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Single-atom DRM?
Guess we'll need nuclear reactors to crack that.
But, then again, I don't think the **AA will exist by the time that comes around. I would really think by then independent artists might actually rule the scene as they show their unique talent versus the cultured BS of the other industries.
IBM's Almaden Research Center now sells lumber (Score:3)
TFA referes to "capability recently demonstrated for iron atoms by IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif"
I remember that place. It used to be one of the biggest research parks in the are. Then an few years ago it became Hitachi, say "Inspire the Next", research after Hitachi bought that division of IBM many years ago. I think they shut it down a few years ago, because it all became tall weeds, and now a brand new Lowe's store emerged in its place.
BTW, someone should collect slogans of Japanese companies: "Inspire the Next", WTF does that mean?
Crappy headline. (Score:3, Informative)
Old hat (Score:3, Funny)
Now, what was I doing again? Yes, studying Xiph' Digital Media Primer For Geeks and appreciating sample videos with scarcely clothed women.
Next Up: (Score:3)
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Re:Quantum effects? (Score:4, Informative)
You have to start worrying at quantum effects WAY before the scale which is currently in most modern computers. Interesting question though.
And while single-atom memory is an interesting feat, memory density isn't everything. It lets you get more capacity into less space, which can be nice. But if size was everything, I'd use my hard drive instead of my system memory and CPU cache. After all, it's easy to get a hard drive on the order of a couple terabytes while system memory is still typically on the order of a few gigabytes, and CPU cache is on the order of a few megabytes.
Re:Quantum effects? (Score:4, Informative)
And while single-atom memory is an interesting feat, memory density isn't everything. It lets you get more capacity into less space, which can be nice.
yes, indeed, will let you get more capacity only when you fit the probe in the same space. For the time being, an STM is about this big [uta.edu].
As a research technique, is amazing. As an applicative discovery... a long way yet until the real-life consumer grade direct application will emerge (if ever)
But if size was everything
Hit the nail in the head here: latency and power consumption spring into my mind as well.
Re:Quantum effects? (Score:4, Interesting)
yes, indeed, will let you get more capacity only when you fit the probe in the same space. For the time being, an STM is about this big [uta.edu].
I'd dearly love to know how they plan on locating any particular atom, let alone redirect the read/write head to it and only it.
Even if the atoms are arranged in an array, flat, how does an atom-scale read head know where it is pointing with sufficiently minuscule granularity? Do they intend to put markers on the surface nearby--oh no wait atoms. Well, they can probably have wires leading--oh no wait atoms. Well, maybe if they color--oh.
Well I guess they'll just have to have one atom surrounded by its own read-write logic, flash-style, and completely negate the whole point of having the actual storage on the atomic size. Oh no wait, that's not even what this research is about.
Seriously, I don't think this has much potential for engineering, as much as it may be clever science.
Re:Quantum effects? (Score:4, Interesting)
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I would bet more on tunnel-scanning versus anything else for the inner workings. It would be far easier to measure the blank spaces between atoms instead of the atom itself.
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"Seriously, I don't think this has much potential for engineering, as much as it may be clever science.'
Too bad your high UID pretty much guarantees your ignorance in this field, I've got several workable applications already in mind for this. Hello, 300+ irradiant lumens per watt output capability, good-bye HID lamps.
I think you need to study more quantum sciences before talking any further.
~Director of Research, EcogroLED USA.
Grow mushrooms instead, no need to study quantum sciences, all you need is a damp closet and a pile of horse-shit.