Human beings are known for a myriad of different things, but most importantly, they are known for getting better on a consistent basis. This tendency to improve, no matter the situation, has brought the world some huge milestones, with technology emerging as quite a major member of the group. The reason why we hold technology in such a high regard is, by and large, predicated upon its skill-set, which guided us towards a reality that nobody could have ever imagined otherwise. Nevertheless, if we look beyond the surface for a second, it will become clear how the whole runner was also very much inspired from the way we applied those skills across a real world environment. The latter component, in fact, did a lot to give the creation a spectrum-wide presence, and as a result, initiate a full-blown tech revolution. Of course, this revolution eventually went on to scale up the human experience through some outright unique avenues, but even after achieving a feat so notable, technology will somehow continue to bring forth the right goods. The same has turned more and more evident in recent times, and assuming one new discovery ends up with the desired impact, it will only put that trend on a higher pedestal moving forward.

The researching team at University of Cambridge has successfully developed a new design for computer memory, which is expected to improve performance and reduce the energy demands of internet and communications technologies. According to certain reports, the researchers conceived their study around a prototype device birthed from hafnium oxide, an insulating material that is already in use across the semiconductor industry. Seemingly equipped to process data in a similar way as synapses in the human brain, this device leverages a novel brand of technology called resistive switching memory. You see, the current memory devices can only thrive in about two states i.e. one or zero. However, a resistive switching memory device has the means to work with a continuous range of states. This, in turn, has shown to generate far greater density and speed.

“A typical USB stick based on continuous range would be able to hold between 10 and 100 times more information, for example,” said Dr. Markus Hellenbrand, from Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy and first author of the study.

While the leap from existing framework is easily visible, the stated technology came with its own big uniformity challenge. Basically, hafnium oxide as a material bears no structure at the atomic level, translating to an almost random mixing of hafnium and oxygen atoms. Such an unorganized picture would unsurprisingly make it difficult to use memory applications, but fortunately, the researchers found their breakthrough once they installed barium to thin films of hafnium oxide. This was followed up by the creation of vertical barium-rich ‘bridges’ that applied their high uniformity to let the electrons pass through them, even if the surrounding hafnium oxide remains unstructured. The electrons’ movement was further facilitated using an energy barrier, which sprung into existence immediately after the stated bridges came in contact with the original device. Another detail worth noting here is how the researchers could control the height of this barrier, something that proved pivotal when it came down to changing electrical resistance of the composite material. Talk about the composite materials in the mix, they also, taking one more step away from the traditional picture where expensive high-temperature manufacturing methods are a prerequisite, can easily self-assemble at low temperatures.

Referring back to their connection with the synapses in human brain, Hellenbrand said:

“What’s really exciting about these materials is they can work like a synapse in the brain: they can store and process information in the same place, like our brains can, making them highly promising for the rapidly growing AI and machine learning fields,”

For the future, though, the researchers’ focus will be on gaining a more in-depth lowdown of how exactly the stated high-performance structures form and what’s their scalability potential. If the technology can deliver on a bigger scale, then it will very well put a major dent in the projections that claim artificial intelligence, internet usage, algorithms and other data-driven technologies will start consuming more than 30% of global electricity in just a few years time.