This article discusses two interesting memory (and spin-based logic) announcements. At the 2023 SNIA Storage Developers Conference (SDC) a German startup called Cerabyte introduced a promising ceramic film memory. University of Minnesota researchers announced a topological semimetal with magnetic properties that could enable higher efficiency and faster spin-based memory and logic devices.
Cerabyte’s technology uses 50-100 atom thick ceramic layers to storage information. A laser beam or particle beam creates a data matrix that is similar to QR codes (see image below). Reading is done with high-resolution microscopic imaging techniques or electron beam microscopy.
The company says that its media can last 5,000+ years and continue to store data from -273 degrees C to 300 degrees C. They also said that CeraMemory is resistant to corrosive, acidic, radioactive environments and EMP disruption.
CeraMemory would come as a cartridge that contains sheets with ceramic coatings. It claims data rates of GB/s. A later approach, CeraTape would use a 5-micron thick flexible substrate with a 10nm thick ceramic coating. This is projected to provide TB/square-cm densities and reduce data center storage TCO by 75%.
The technology roadmap scales from 100nm to 3nm bits (providing from GB/square-cm to TB/square-cm densities). The latter density (projected by 2030-2035) is said to enable datacenter rack storage densities from 10PB to 100 PB with sheets and 1EB with CeraTape.
Several years ago, a company named Millenniata introduced its M-Disc optical discs. These were ceramic optical discs that were written and read using DVD and Blu-ray lasers. These are still available but I haven’t heard much about developments with this technology for several years. This is different from Cerabyte’s technology although it also uses ceramic materials to store data and Millenniata claims a 1,000 year archival life.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota in collaboration with a team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed new materials that could enable future computing based upon electron spins rather than current. Spintronic devices can move and process data without conventional electrical resistance and thus can create faster and more efficient data processing.
In addition, spintronic devices can also be non-volatile so memory states persist after power is removed. This is how spintronic devices called MRAM memories work. The University of Minnesota team is led by Professor Jing-Ping Wang from the UoM Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
In July this team announced that it had developed a sputtered Pt3Sn topological semimetal by magnetic doping of an otherwise weak topological insulator (for instance, using Fe). When a magnetic field is applied in the film plane the longitudinal resistance of the material decreases rather than increases—thus acting as a conductive semi-metal. This work is discussed in a Nature Communications article. The image below shows the atomic structure of the fabricated films measured using HAAF-STEM and EDX.
The use of such a semimetal in spintronic devices could enable advanced spin-orbit torque (SOT) devices for memory (MRAM) as well as spin-based processing applications. The authors say this could lead to more energy efficient and industry compatible SOT MRAM and spin-based logic devices. They also think that the fabrication process for these Pt3Sn is less challenging than with some other topological materials and could be incorporated with conventional CMOS processing.
Cerabyte introduces a high-density ceramic film memory at the 2023 SDC. The University of Minnesota has developed a topological semimetal that could enable more efficient spintronic logic and memory devices.
Read the full article here
