JODHPUR: A multi-institutional team led by Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur researchers has fabricated high-performance resistive memory (memristor) device with ultralow power consumption for high-density data storage applications. The fabricated device is made up of cadmium selenide (CdSe) quantum dots (QDs) with a high on/off ratio, fast operation speed, good Random-Access Memory (RAM) performance, and long retention time and endurance over 150 switching cycles. This device can also be used as high-density storage, as it can perform logical operations with fast operation speed.
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 globalization and the internet of things (IOTs). To store the massive data in a small device, miniaturization 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.
To cater for this problem, the team consisting of Dr Satyajit Sahu, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, IIT Jodhpur, Jayanta Bera, PhD student, Department of Physics, IIT Jodhpur, Atanu Betal, PhD student, Department of Physics, IIT Jodhpur, Dr Ashish Sharma, Senior Research Fellow, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, Dr Arup Kumar Rath, Senior Scientist, Physical & Material Chemistry Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune and Dr Uday Shankar, PhD student, Department of Polymer and Process Engineering, IIT Roorkee have fabricated the memristor for high-density data storage applications. The link to the published research can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.2c01894
Below mentioned are the salient features of the fabricated device:
- High-performance resistive memory device with ultra-low power consumption
- Ultimate power consumption is significantly low during operation
- Operation speed of this device is around 41 nanoseconds which is very fast
Talking about the impact of the research, Dr. Satyajit Sahu, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, IIT Jodhpur, said, “The research will revolutionize 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.”
The research work has been funded by the Science and Engineering Research Board, India and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). The research finds a new opening for ultra-low-power memristors. It has a great potential to be used as a high-performance low powered RRAM (Resistive Random Access Memory) in the future. 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.