IBM has discovered a new technique to operate the memory chips by using the metal oxides, which is claimed to use less power than today’s silicon based devices including cell phones.
The technique uses metal oxides that are transformed from the insulating state to the conducting state through the insertion and removal of oxygen ions driven by electric fields at oxide-liquid interfaces.
Oxide materials maintain a stable metallic state even after the power supply is stopped, which allows easy storage and transport of data, the company claims.
The new method will lead way to operate chips using tiny ionic currents instead of using conventional electrical means that operate today’s semiconducting devices.
IBM Research fellow Dr. Stuart Parkin said that their ability to understand and control matter at atomic scale dimensions allows them to engineer new materials and devices that operate on completely different principles than the silicon based information technologies.
"Going beyond today’s charge-based devices to those that use miniscule ionic currents to reversibly control the state of matter has the potential for new types of mobile devices," Parkin added.
"Using these devices and concepts in novel three-dimensional architectures could prevent the information technology industry from hitting a technology brick wall."
