NANO RAM

Shashwat Shriparv dwivedishashwat@gmail.com InfinitySoft

RAM

Random access memory ( RAM) is a type of data storage used in computers. It takes the form of integrated circuits that allow the stored data to be accessed in any order that is, at random and without the physical movement of the storage medium or a physical reading head.

Types of RAM

Nonon-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) is the general name used to describe any type of random access memory which does not lose its information when power is turned off. ROM EPROM (Erasable programmable readread-only memory) EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ReadRead-Only Memory) Flash memory Upcoming MRAM (Magneto resistive Random Access Memory ) RRAM (Resistive Random Access Memory ) NRAM

Volatile memory:( volatile storage or primary storage device) is computer memory that requires power to maintain the stored information, unlike nonnon-volatile memory which does not require a maintained power supply. DRAM SRAM Upcoming Z-RAM (Zero capacitor RAM ) TTRAM (Twin Transistor RAM)

INTRODUCTION

Nanoano-RAM, is a proprietary computer memory technology from the company NANTERO. It is a type of nonvolatile random access memory based on the mechanical position of carbon nano tube deposited on a chipchip-like substrate. The proprietary NRAM design, invented by Dr. Thomas Rueckes, Nantero's Chief Technology Officer, uses carbon nano tubes as the active memory elements.

What is carbon Nano tube? Carbon nano tubes (CNTs) are a recently discovered allotrope of carbon. Carbon nano tubes have amazing properties . It is stronger than steel and as hard as diamond. The wall of a singlesingle-walled carbon Nano tube is only one carbon atom thick and the tube diameter is approximately 50,000 times smaller than a human hair.

Nantero has created multiple prototype devices, including an array of ten billion suspended nano tube junctions on a single silicon wafer. NRAM technology will achieve very high memory densities: at least 1010-100 times our current best.

Nantero's design for NRAM involves the use of suspended nanotube junctions as memory bits, with the "up" position representing bit zero (Off) and the "down" position representing bit one (On).

Bits are switched between states through the application of electrical fields. The wafer (A small adhesive disk of paste) was produced using only standard semiconductor processes, maximizing compatibility with existing semiconductor factories.

NRAM will be considerably faster and denser than DRAM, have substantially lower power consumption than DRAM or flash, be as portable as flash memory, and be highly resistant to environmental forces (heat, cold, magnetism).

And as a nonvolatile chip, it will provide permanent data storage even without power. Possible uses include the enabling of instantinstant-on computers, which boot and reboot instantly, as well as highhigh-density portable memory - MP3 players with 1000s of songs, PDAs with 10 gigabytes of memory, highhigh -speed network servers and much more.

In Nantero's technology, each NRAM "cell" consists of a number of nano tubes suspended on insulating "lands" over a metal electrode. At rest the nano tubes lie above the electrode "in the air", about 13 nm above it in the current versions.

Architecture of suspended nano tube memory

How it works?

Nanteros nanotech RAM chip applies electrical charges to nanotubes suspended over an electrode. Applying the opposite type of charge to the tubes and the electrode causes the tubes to bend down, touch, and bind to the electrode, creating an electrical connection. Applying the same type of charge to the tubes and electrode causes the tubes to bend upward, creating no electrical connection. The system reads these two states as binary datas ones and zeros. The highcapacity NRAM chip maintains stored data when a host devices power is shut off and promises to be fast and energy efficient.

WORKING OF NANORAM

Benefits of NRAM
Permanently nonvolatile High speed (comparable to SRAM ) Small cell size ( comparable to DRAM ) Unlimited lifetime Immunes to soft errors

CMOS-compatible Process Flow

Can be manufactured in any CMOS semiconductor fab Requires no new equipment No technology limitation for scaling

Applications

Computers and Laptops (Enabling instantinstant-on performance, with no waiting for bootboot -up) Mobile devices (Faster storage of more data for PDAs and handhelds) Embedded memory (More powerful microprocessor, micro controller, other logic devices ) Replacement of hard drives

Future
Nonvolatile memories will enable instant booting of computers. Large memories can be build with nanotube technology. Nonvolatile memories offer much better performance combined with data storage when the power is turned OFF.

Shashwat Shriparv dwivedishashwat@gmail.com InfinitySoft