Low Power Nano Computer Components

Low Power Nano Computer Components

The size and weight of the battery in our mobile phones and other devices has not really changed much over the last few years and they remain large and clunky. Developments in battery technology have not really kept pace with improvements in memory capacity and processors.

However, University of Illinois engineers may have found an answer. They have developed a kind of ultra-low-power digital memory that is faster and uses 100 times less energy than conventional memory on the market.

They have developed components that use less energy and give portable electronic devices much longer battery life between charges.

The flash memory used in today’s mobile devices stores bits as charge, which is slow and requires high programming voltages. An alternative is faster (but higher power) phase-change materials, or PCM, in which a bit is stored in the resistance of the material, which is switchable.

The University of Illinois team was able to reduce the power per bit to 100 times less than existing PCM memory by using carbon nanotubes as contacts, which are some 10,000 times smaller than a human hair.

Energy efficiency is not the only benefit. Nanotubes are quite stable, and don’t degrade like metal wires. Also, a magnet can not accidentally erase the content that’s stored.

This should lead to a generation of mobile phones with longer battery life yet a smaller batteries.

Scientific and military applications stand to benefit from the technology too, such as satellites and other telecommunications equipment in remote locations, or for use in supercomputers and other datacenters.