IIT Jodhpur fabricates resistive memory device for high-density data storage applications

NEW DELHI : Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Jodhpur have fabricated a resistive memory device with ultra low power consumption for high-density data storage applications. According to officials, the high-performance device called "Memristor" is made up of cadmium selenide (CdSe) quantum dots (QDs) with a high on and off ratio, fast operation speed, good Random-Access Memory (RAM) performance, and long retention time and endurance of over 150 switching cycles. This device can also be used as high-density storage, as it can perform logical operations with fast operation speed, they said.

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"The current commercial memory technologies available in the market are Hard Disk Drive (HDD), USB flash drive, SD card, Solid State Drive (SDD), Dynamical Random Access Memory (DRAM) and Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) to store data in electronic devices. These data storage devices cannot store vast amounts of data generated by digital globalisation and the internet of things (IOTs)," said Satyajit Sahu, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, IIT Jodhpur.

"To store the massive data in a small device, miniaturisation of memory devices is needed. But, the silicon-based memory technologies are facing serious reliability issues upon downscaling to a few nanometres. "Hence, current memory technologies cannot fulfil the requirement of high-density data storage devices. Therefore, new memory technologies are needed for high-density storage," added Sahu. The device has a significantly lower ultimate power consumption and fast operation speed which is around 41 nanoseconds.

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"The research will revolutionise the way memory elements are used for information storage and processing applications as this provides a platform to fabricate a very low-cost and ultra-low power memory device. It has a great potential to be used as a high-performance low powered RRAM (Resistive Random Access Memory) in the future," Sahu said. "The researchers are also investigating the human brain-inspired neuromorphic computing in quantum dots-based resistive memory devices, which will have a great potential to be used in the field of artificial synapse," he added.