Data storage technology is growing day by day. Previously we only needed car-sized machines to store a few kilobytes, now we can fit terabytes into tiny devices.
Today, it is no longer just the size of the storage, and it has moved towards how fast the stored data is transferred. Scientists have made a discovery that could revolutionize this issue.
It has been discovered that a material stores information almost like our brain
Researchers have discovered that the non-living component ‘vanadium dioxide’, which has a structure that does not even come close to the complexity of the brain, can ‘remember’ previous external stimuli just like our brains. The ability to store an activity or information is seen for the first time on a material.
Vanadium dioxide (VO2) was a material that has recently been used as an alternative or complement to silicon as the basis of electronic devices, due to its potential to outperform the next material as a semiconductor.
One of the most intriguing properties of VO2 is that it acts as an insulator when below 68 degrees Celsius (154.4 degrees Fahrenheit). However, when it rises above this critical temperature in a change known as the metal-insulator transition, it becomes a metal with good conductivity. The scientists discovered that VO2 ‘remembers’ the last activity in its measurements during these transitions.
The team’s work revealed that VO2 stores information about the most recently applied current for at least three hours. Maybe even VO2’s storage time for this ‘information’ may be longer, but the scientists who conducted the research do not have the equipment to measure the time.
However, according to the predictions of scientists, we can obtain faster, larger capacity and expandable storage units thanks to VO2. In other words, with this discovery, a great contribution can be made to the development of electronic devices, especially data processing and storage. What are you thinking? Please do not forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments.
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