Glorious gadolinium gives flash memory

College Park, MD (August 24, 2010) - future flash memory could be faster and store more data without changing its basic through the use of a material proposed by researchers in the Taiwan, describing a new logical element built Chang Gung University joint intelligent design gadolinium material rare journal land applied PHYSICS letters, which is published by the American Physics Institute.

It is well known in the semiconductor than conventional flash - memory industry an essential element of the mobile electronics today - can not improve much more because continued decline in its floating gate structure in the search for faster performance and increased data storage capacity will degrade soon its ability to retain its memoria.La situation has stimulated a wide range of research around the world in dozens of alternative designs of memory, but more attractive to the industry would be one that requires less design modification floating gate.

A research team directed by Chao-Sung Lai Chang Gung University in Taoyuan, Taiwan, did precisely demonstrated eso.Han a floating gate intelligently modified gadolinium - oxide a rare inexpensive compound already in use in other applications of microelectronic - has data retention properties and typing speed / delete will allow more smaller, faster and higher capacity memory flash in the future.

"The operation of low-voltage and low power consumption of this memory should be particularly attractive for future smartphones, and other applications in telecommunications," says Dr. Lai.

Chang Gung scientists made two key ideas which allowed its éxito.El last year, they realized taken together, crystallized and amorphous gadolinium oxide had electrical properties that were nearly need them for future floating-gate Flash recuerdos.Después create inside gadolinium oxide nanocrystals of an array of its amorphous, such that, below, exposed as a plasma containing fluorine, which prompted the properties of materials for level deseado.Dado all materials and processes used are well known in the semiconductor, Dr. Lai industry is optimistic that this design ultimately will be a commercial success.