Scientists can create molecular-sized memories

Scientists continue to create new breakthroughs in data storage technology.

When thinking of data warehouses, we often think of using discs with readers. These are obsolete technologies, as today's flash drives are used extensively with the ability to quickly delete and install data right on your USB thumb drive.

Although we have made significant strides in shrinking the size of these devices, it seems that scientists still do not want to stop. They are trying to get their size down to the molecular level.

A team of researchers from many different countries has succeeded in putting a certain amount of data into some molecules. In fact, this device is about the size of three normal molecules and is made up of two molecules that store the electrons that contain the data, and a third molecule acts as a cage that encapsulates two molecules. on. More specifically, this USB is less than 1 nanometer in size.

In this study, they used a molecule of tungsten that acted as a cage and two selenium trioxide molecules to store information. This design was surprisingly stable with a temperature of 6000C and stored data for 336 hours.

Of course, this research is still in its infancy and it seems we have to wait a long time before we can move our entire directory to a certain molecule. The team believes that in order to speed up research and make the device more efficient, they need a greater current than what they have.

The research team is also confident that if this model can be put into operation, they can push the data transfer rate to picoseconds (one trillionths of a second). In the past, science has created a flash device just as thick as an atom, but the panels need to be stacked to work.

This is the first time that a single-molecule device has the ability to store information and operate independently. Maybe in the near future, every cell in our body will be transformed into a memory compartment with super-fast data access.

References: sciencealert