NOTHING COSTS MORE THAN IT USED TO:

Flash Memory That'll Keep On Shrinking: Using atom-thick carbon instead of silicon could pack ever more data into portable electronics. (Katherine Bourzac, 9/02/11, Technology Review)

Graphene-based technology like that demonstrated the UCLA team and Samsung could let flash memory continue shrinking. The group's prototypes devices are described online in the journal ACS Nano.

"We're not totally replacing silicon but using graphene as the storage layer," says Augustin Hong, who worked on the devices at UCLA and is now a research staff member at IBM's Watson Research Center. "We're using graphene to help extend the capabilities of the conventional technology."

The graphene flash memory prototypes can be read and written to using less power than conventional flash memory, and they can store data more stably over time, even when miniaturized. The UCLA researchers have also demonstrated that they meet the industry standard of 10-year projected data retention--today's flash memory does too, but future versions may not. Most important, the graphene memory cells don't electrically interfere with one another--a problem with conventional flash cells as they are made smaller that can cause them to malfunction.

Other researchers are working on radical new kinds of computer memory that promise to hold more data. However, many of these alternatives require exotic materials and totally new manufacturing processes. Replacing silicon with graphene in flash memory cells could provide a simpler, more practical solution, at least in the short term.

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