With summer approaching, temperatures are starting to rise in the Northern Hemisphere and most of us know what happens when our smartphones and other portable electronic devices overheat.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have unveiled an ultra-rugged memory device capable of withstanding extreme temperatures, a breakthrough that bodes well not only for smartphones but also for artificial intelligence devices that operate in harsh conditions.
A study recently published in the journal Nature Electronics by Deep Jariwala and Roy Olsson of the University of Pennsylvania, together with their engineering teams, demonstrates a memory technology capable of withstanding temperatures up to 1100°F. These high levels of tolerance were maintained for more than 60 hours, showing extraordinary stability and reliability.
Only megabytes – for now
The team designed a non-volatile device, meaning it could retain information without an active power source. Unlike traditional silicon-based flash drives that begin to fail around 392°F, the team's device used ferroelectric aluminum scandium nitride (AlScN). AlScN has the unique ability to be able to maintain specific electrical states, even at significantly higher temperatures.
The ultra-rugged memory device comprises a metal-insulator-metal configuration with a thin layer of AlScN sandwiched between nickel and platinum electrodes. This unique design was meticulously planned and executed to ensure compatibility with high-temperature silicon carbide logic devices, further enabling the memory device to operate alongside high-performance computing systems designed for extreme temperatures.
“Conventional devices that use small silicon transistors have difficulty working in high-temperature environments, a limitation that restricts silicon processors, so silicon carbide is used instead,” Deep Jariwala said.
“While silicon carbide technology is excellent, it is nowhere near the processing power of silicon processors, so advanced processing and data-intensive computing, such as AI, cannot be achieved.” Perform in hostile or high temperature environments. The stability of our memory device could allow for tighter integration of memory and processing, improving the speed, complexity, and efficiency of computing. “We call this ‘memory-enhanced computing’ and we are working with other teams to set the stage for AI in new environments.”
Despite notable progress, the new technology will initially only be available in smaller capacities. Jariwala told us: “Depending on the current size of devices and the scalability of our manufacturing process, we can easily achieve between 10 megabytes and hundreds of megabytes of storage capacity. “Our goal is to commercialize these megabyte-scale chips through our new company in the near to intermediate future.”
