(Press-News.org) CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Technophiles who have been dreaming of mobile devices that run longer on lighter, slimmer batteries may soon find their wish has been granted.
University of Illinois engineers have developed a form of ultra-low-power digital memory that is faster and uses 100 times less energy than similar available memory. The technology could give future portable devices much longer battery life between charges.
Led by electrical and computer engineering professor Eric Pop, the team will publish its results in an upcoming issue of Science magazine and online in the March 10 Science Express.
"I think anyone who is dealing with a lot of chargers and plugging things in every night can relate to wanting a cell phone or laptop whose batteries can last for weeks or months," said Pop, who is also affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at Illinois.
The flash memory used in mobile devices today stores bits as charge, which requires high programming voltages and is relatively slow. Industry has been exploring faster, but higher power phase-change materials (PCM) as an alternative. In PCM memory a bit is stored in the resistance of the material, which is switchable.
Pop's group lowered the power per bit to 100 times less than existing PCM memory by focusing on one simple, yet key factor: size.
Rather than the metal wires standard in industry, the group used carbon nanotubes, tiny tubes only a few nanometers in diameter – 10,000 times smaller than a human hair.
"The energy consumption is essentially scaled with the volume of the memory bit," said graduate student Feng Xiong, the first author of the paper. "By using nanoscale contacts, we are able to achieve much smaller power consumption."
To create a bit, the researchers place a small amount of PCM in a nanoscale gap formed in the middle of a carbon nanotube. They can switch the bit "on" and "off" by passing small currents through the nanotube.
"Carbon nanotubes are the smallest known electronic conductors," Pop said. "They are better than any metal at delivering a little jolt of electricity to zap the PCM bit."
Nanotubes also boast an extraordinary stability, as they are not susceptible to the degradation that can plague metal wires. In addition, the PCM that functions as the actual bit is immune to accidental erasure from a passing scanner or magnet.
The low-power PCM bits could be used in existing devices with a significant increase in battery life. Right now, a smart phone uses about a watt of energy and a laptop runs on more than 25 watts. Some of that energy goes to the display, but an increasing percentage is dedicated to memory.
"Anytime you're running an app, or storing MP3s, or streaming videos, it's draining the battery," said Albert Liao, a graduate student and co-author. "The memory and the processor are working hard retrieving data. As people use their phones to place calls less and use them for computing more, improving the data storage and retrieval operations is important."
Pop believes that, along with improvements in display technology, the nanotube PCM memory could increase an iPhone's energy efficiency so it could run for a longer time on a smaller battery, or even to the point where it could run simply by harvesting its own thermal, mechanical or solar energy – no battery required.
And device junkies will not be the only beneficiaries.
"We're not just talking about lightening our pockets or purses," Pop said. "This is also important for anything that has to operate on a battery, such as satellites, telecommunications equipment in remote locations, or any number of scientific and military applications."
In addition, ultra-low-power memory could cut the energy consumption – and thus the expense – of data storage or supercomputing centers by a large percentage. The low-power memory could also enable three-dimensional integration, a stacking of chips that has eluded researchers because of fabrication and heat problems.
The team has made and tested a few hundred bits so far, and they want to scale up production to create arrays of memory bits that operate together. They also hope to achieve greater data density through clever programming such that each physical PCM bit can program two data bits, called multibit memory.
The team is continuing to work to reduce power consumption and increase energy efficiency even beyond the groundbreaking savings they've already demonstrated.
"Even though we've taken one technology and shown that it can be improved by a factor of 100, we have not yet reached what is physically possible. We have not even tested the limits yet. I think we could lower power by at least another factor of 10," Pop said.
INFORMATION:
The work was supported in part by the Marco Focus Center Research Program, a Semiconductor Research Corporation entity, and by the Office of Naval Research. Graduate student David Estrada was also a co-author.
Editor's note: To reach Eric Pop, call 217-244-2070; epop@illinois.edu.
New technology would dramatically extend battery life for mobile devices
2011-03-11
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
A small quantum leap
2011-03-11
Northwestern University researchers have developed a new switching device that takes quantum communication to a new level. The device is a practical step toward creating a network that takes advantage of the mysterious and powerful world of quantum mechanics.
The researchers can route quantum bits, or entangled particles of light, at very high speeds along a shared network of fiber-optic cable without losing the entanglement information embedded in the quantum bits. The switch could be used toward achieving two goals of the information technology world: a quantum Internet, ...
Scientists find that non-native snakes are taking a toll on native birds
2011-03-11
The Everglades National Park in Florida is home to hundreds of species of native wildlife. It has also become the well-established home of the non-native Burmese python—known to be a predator of native species. Now scientists, for the first time, have conducted a detailed analysis of the avian component of the python's diet and the negative impact the snakes may have on Florida's native birds, including some endangered species.
The Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus), native to Southeast Asia, was first recorded in the Everglades in 1979—thought to be escaped or ...
Pitchers bean more batters in the heat of the summer
2011-03-11
During spring training, you will find Major League pitchers practicing their pitches, perfecting their technique and strengthening their muscles to endure the grueling 162 game season. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that hurlers might also consider the effect these sweltering months could have on their brains.
The study, led by researchers from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, has found pitchers whose teammates get hit by a pitch are more likely to strike back and peg an opposing ...
Study clarifies the role of cocoa bean handling on flavanol levels
2011-03-11
As evidence regarding the health benefits of consuming dark chocolate and cocoa mounts, there has been an increasing debate about which cocoa and chocolate products deliver the most beneficial compounds, known as flavanols, and if steps in cocoa and chocolate production diminish the levels of cocoa flavanols.
In a recently published paper, scientists reported on the effect of conventional production methods of cocoa beans on the levels of flavanols, natural antioxidants. The study, conducted by researchers at the Hershey Center for Health & Nutrition®, investigated ...
UCSF report describes new model for neurodegeneration
2011-03-11
A team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has developed a new model for how inherited genes contribute to a common but untreatable and incurable neurodegenerative disease. The disease, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, is the second most common cause of dementia before age 65, after Alzheimer's disease.
Based on experiments in worms and mice, the UCSF team's work explains in part why the brain deteriorates in frontotemporal lobar degeneration, which may have implications for the understanding of several neurodegenerative disorders, including ...
Surgery without external scars is gaining traction
2011-03-11
CHICAGO— When Patricia Manrique was told she needed her gallbladder removed she immediately thought about the classroom full of children who rely on her to teach them tap and ballet each day. The Chicago Park District physical instructor needed a way to get the surgery performed without being laid up for weeks so she opted for an innovative minimally invasive procedure called Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) that would allow surgeons to perform organ removal surgery without any visible incisions and have her back on her feet the same day. Northwestern ...
New method for studying molecule reactions a breakthrough in organic chemistry
2011-03-11
Good chemists are passive-aggressive — they manipulate molecules without actually touching them.
In a feat of manipulating substances at the nanoscale, UCLA researchers and colleagues demonstrated a method for isolating two molecules together on a substrate and controlling how those two molecules react when excited with ultraviolet light, making detailed observations both before and after the reaction.
Their research is published today in the journal Science.
"This is one step in measuring and understanding the interactions between light and molecules, which ...
Grab the leash: Dog walkers more likely to reach exercise benchmarks
2011-03-11
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Man's best friend may provide more than just faithful companionship: A new study led by a Michigan State University researcher shows people who owned and walked their dogs were 34 percent more likely to meet federal benchmarks on physical activity.
The results, said epidemiologist Mathew Reeves, show that promoting dog ownership and dog walking could help many Americans – of which fewer than half meet recommended levels of leisure-time physical activity – become healthier.
"Walking is the most accessible form of physical activity available to people," ...
Study finds primates age gracefully
2011-03-11
A new study says chimps, gorillas and other primates grow old gracefully much like humans. The findings come from the first-ever multi-species comparison of primate aging patterns reported in the March 11 issue of Science.
It was long thought that humans, who have relatively long life spans, age more slowly than other animals. But new research funded by the National Science Foundation's Division of Environmental Biology suggests the pace of human aging may not be so unique after all.
We had good reason to think human aging was unique, said co-author Anne Bronikowski ...
Scripps Research team discovers new details about medically important protein family
2011-03-11
LA JOLLA, CA – March 10, 2011 – Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have determined a new structure from a medically important superfamily of proteins. The structure should help instruct the design of a new kind of therapeutics for conditions ranging from Parkinson's disease to inflammation.
The study, published on March 10, 2011, in Science Express, an advance, online publication of selected research from the journal Science, provides important insights into how this large family of proteins, called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), can recognize and respond ...