A new word in computer technologies is a usage of diamonds for computer memory. It was reported that Johns Hopkins University engineers were working on changing that would allow improving the storage capacity and elongating the period of data storage of the current memory media. The changes are planned to touch an inexpensive GST alloy for phase-change memory. GST consists of antimony, germanium, and tellurium but a new alloy is announced to be 100 times faster than the current. The study’s lead author and a doctoral student at the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University Ming Xu stated that a phase-change memory with a new alloy could be 100,000 times more rewritten, and they were planning to replace the computer hard drives within five years.
IBM and other firms perform research on improving the properties of computer memory. They founded out that with the help of diamond-tipped tools and applied pressure they could change alloy from an amorphous to a crystalline state. That change could decrease the electrical resistivity and enlarge the storage capacity of the memory.
The mystery of GST two-state transition hasn’t been revealed for a long time what prevented scientists from improving its properties. Xu and his group tumbled to an idea of using diamond tools to slow the change. They used X-ray diffraction and computer simulation. The impaired transition helped the researches examine the process in details and understand the ways of improvements. They stated that they were able to enlarge the memory storage capacity.
