| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| wasssup1990 |
Posted - Oct 22 2009 : 09:58:00 AM
Engineers create fingernail-size chip that holds 1TB of data
The process also shows promise for boosting vehicles' fuel economy
By Lucas Mearian
October 21, 2009 03:28 PM ET
Computerworld - Engineers have created a new fingernail-size chip that
can hold 1 trillion bytes (a terabyte) of data -- 50 times the
capacity of today's best silicon-based chip technologies.
The engineers, from North Carolina State University, said their
nanostructured Ni-MgO system can store up to 20 high-definition DVDs
or 250 million pages of text, "far exceeding the storage capacities of
today's computer memory systems."
The team of engineers was led by Jagdish "Jay" Narayan, director of
the National Science Foundation Center for Advanced Materials and
Smart Structures at the university.
The engineers made their breakthrough using the process of selective
doping, in which an impurity is added to a material whose properties
consequently change.
Working at the nanoscale, the engineers added metal nickel to
magnesium oxide, a ceramic. The resulting material contained clusters
of nickel atoms no bigger than 10 square nanometers -- a pinhead has a
diameter of 1 million nanometers. The discovery represents a 90% size
reduction compared with today's techniques, and an advancement that
could boost computer storage capacity.
"Instead of making a chip that stores 20 gigabytes, you have one that
can handle one terabyte, or 50 times more data," Narayan said in a
press release.
The process also shows promise for boosting vehicles' fuel economy and
reducing heat produced by semiconductors, a potentially important
development for more efficient energy production.
By using the process of selective doping, the engineers could
introduce metallic properties into ceramics, Narayan said. The process
would allow them to develop a new generation of ceramic engines able
to withstand twice the temperatures of normal engines. The engines
could potentially achieve fuel economy of 80 miles per gallon, Narayan
said.
And, since the thermal conductivity of the material would be improved,
the technique could also have applications in harnessing alternative
energy sources like solar energy.
The breakthrough using the process of selective doping also advances
knowledge in the emerging field of "spintronics," which is dedicated
to harnessing energy produced by the spinning of electrons.
"Most energy used today is harnessed through the movement of current
and is limited by the amount of heat that it produces, but the energy
created by the spinning of electrons produces no heat," the university
state in a press release.
The engineers manipulated the nanomaterial so the electrons' spin
within the material could be controlled, which could prove valuable to
harnessing the electrons' energy. The finding could be important for
engineers working to produce more efficient semiconductors.
(Edit...Move to Computers) |
| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Aaron Cake |
Posted - Oct 25 2009 : 10:50:30 AM
A wider paddle requires more water. That's where the force comes from.
Assuming these EM fields are moving, the problem is that they are still massively weak. Put a solar panel in the same location that is 2% the size and get 200x more power (I'm making these numbers up, but I don't doubt that the real situation is almost the same).
If the EM fields don't move, there is simply no energy to extract from them. |
| wasssup1990 |
Posted - Oct 25 2009 : 10:19:27 AM
Imagine a water wheel in a creek spinning with the current. Increase the width of the blades and what do you get? More rotational force. This is a simple mechanical example.
A tree often has more than one leaf. It does well at photosynthesis because of this.
Now imagine a highly dense doped silicon semiconducting structure (trillions of diodes) with a positive and negative end. Like leaves on a tree, these nano diodes capture energy from a band of EM frequencies which induced electron movement then rectify it into usable current, or photosynthesis for a leaf on a tree.
This idea is like an EM wind turbine but with trillions connected to each other to produce a usable output. There are always EM waves and with nanotechnology it should be able to be done.
Nature shows us that having a large array of energy collectors all connected to each other one way or another will produce more energy than only a few energy collecting element alone. Yes some big plants have only a few leaves, but don't forget that the leaf itself is made up of lots of energy collectors to perform photosynthesis.
Using large arrays of something is the best way to get the job done for many different things. Supercomputing, construction work and solar arrays just to name a few. |
| Aaron Cake |
Posted - Oct 24 2009 : 10:14:08 AM
The storage element is very interesting, for sure. Now they just need to give specifics. They seem very sure on capacity, but how about speed and longevity? Stability over time?
Yes, we all know about moving electrons from one copper atom to another (or any metal of course) makes a little heat. Superconductors all but eliminate that inefficiency. It we could dope standard metals to produce room temperature superconductors, that would be great. But getting power from EM fields? Even the strongest EM fields are very weak, and regardless of what type of conductor is used, only microamps are available. And of course, either the EM field or the coil needs to be moving, which requires energy.
It natural electron movement is harnessed, then electron movement stops. If electron movement stops, isn't it the same effect of cooling something to absolute zero which according to Heisenberg, isn't really possible because the material would cease to exist? |
| wasssup1990 |
Posted - Oct 23 2009 : 12:23:44 PM
I don't know, but the article was interesting. I am mostly interested in the data storage parts.
Apparently when electrons pass from one atom to another it gives off heat. I think this is the case since the atoms have several electron shells which are at different energy levels. When one electron moves from a high energy shell to a low energy shell it radiates heat and other EM frequencies. When an electron changes direction (accelerates or decelerates) it dissipates EM radiation. Look up Synchrotron. I think that is impossible to stop the movement of an electron. There is always EM radiation and therefore the electrons would always, at least, be spinning around their own nucleus. Someone actually explained his theory on YouTube which was like what I just theorised. He mentioned dense semiconducting crystal structures that would harness natural electron movement and rectify it into usable current. So much theory. Slightly off topic but I think a certain government has been keeping the most tightest grip on similar technologies to preserve their "monetary system" as priority one. That's all I'll say about that. |
| Aaron Cake |
Posted - Oct 23 2009 : 10:52:26 AM
quote:
Originally posted by wasssup1990
By using the process of selective doping, the engineers could
introduce metallic properties into ceramics, Narayan said. The process
would allow them to develop a new generation of ceramic engines able
to withstand twice the temperatures of normal engines. The engines
could potentially achieve fuel economy of 80 miles per gallon, Narayan
said.
Cool. So slightly less mileage then my 10 year old Honda built with todays materials.
quote:
"Most energy used today is harnessed through the movement of current
and is limited by the amount of heat that it produces, but the energy
created by the spinning of electrons produces no heat," the university
state in a press release.
I may be misreading this, but it sounds a little fishy. If you are pulling energy from a spinning electron, the speed of spin slows down. What happens to the base material at that point? Or, how much energy does it take to get an electron spinning anyway? |
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