A new type of computer memory uses carbon, rather than silicon

[firephoto]

If this really works it will mean some incredible speeds for computers. 200 gig solid state drive anyone?

http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1763552
Carbon comes in many forms. Diamonds and graphite are two of the most familiar ones. A less familiar variety is the nanotube, also known as a “buckytube” after Richard Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic domes have a framework similar to the arrangement of the atoms in a nanotube. Nanotubes consist of a cylindrical array of carbon atoms whose diameter is only about 1 nanometre (a billionth of a metre). If Nantero, a firm based in Woburn, Massachusetts, proves correct, such tubes will soon be an integral part of computer memories.

[waydwolf]

    Same old song... just a drop of water in and endless sea...

    We've been hearing this something like forever now. I'll wait till they actually do it before I get my hopes up.

    Might happen about the same time as they build a space elevator with fullerene fibers.

 

[Mike123abc]

While they claim 20x faster than current, they are about 8x faster than the fastest out now. It will not take long for silicon to catch up. It would be great if they can get it to work since being non volatile they could eventually replace flash memories.

[Jacob S]

Just as they can get silicon to become faster, couldnt they make carbon faster just as well?

[Mike123abc]

True they could probably increase carbon too. My point was that it is only 8x faster than current silicon. If you went into the unannounced laboratories where they are building the next generation of silicon, how close are they already to the carbon speed? Being able to make a prototype is a long ways from building the factory. They really need to be closer to 32x faster than the top end of the current to be equal in speed by the time they build a factory.

[Jacob S]

If it is even 3 or 4 times faster then that would be very competitive, even if its twice as fast, but they have to be fast enough to stay ahead of the competition once its released.

Those that have been working on the carbon memory probably have not worked on making it faster but rather on the development.