Let’s begin with the generation of computers that were in use some years ago. Although they were bigger, their internal storage was too small to serve the needs of many people. However, scientists and engineers have been working tirelessly to bring down the computer size while increasing the memory. The result is a smaller machine that has gigantic speed and storage capacity that’s never been seen before.
But when this is happening, some people from other quarters are making heart-breaking predictions-that the reduction in size and improvement in computer memory would hit its highest limit. However, from what is happening in the computer industry, this prediction is doomed to fail. Nanotechnology could make it possible to reduce the size of microchips that are being used in computers by up to 100 times.
The floppy disk was the leading computer memory that was used for some decades and even until the 21st century. This trend was brought to a halt in 2007 when computers which were sold in the UK didn’t have floppy disks. This represented a huge paradigm shift from the past and showed what nanotechnology has brought forth.
A diskette is able to store a meager 1.44MB, but the flash disks on sale in the market today can accommodate up to 2000 songs. The flash disks make use of electric charges to encode data which is used in memory cells.
Just recently, something unexpected regarding this less pricey, but high capacity hardware cropped up. Engineers are working around the clock to reduce the cell sizes that make up this special device. The space that’s available between these cells is less than 25 nanometers and the progress which has been achieved has been rather rapid. For every 18 months, the transistors that are in use have doubles and at this rate, there isn’t any doubt that things are moving pretty fast. Scientists state that problems could occur when cells are packed closely together because of the electrical interferences that occur.
However, there isn’t anything to get you worried since nanotechnology has again become an unlikely savior! A sheet of carbon which is a single-atom-thick can be used to minimize the amount of interference that occurs. According to teams of researchers in California, US and Australia, this can be achieved even when the barrier is less than 25nm.
Also, this is again not the end of the problem. At less than 11nm, it will be impossible to travel the lower charge route, a thing that presents some headache to researchers. However, Michael Kozicki who is the director at the Center of Applied Nanoionics at the Arizona State University is leading a tem of scientists to create minute bridges which helps to reduce the experience that will occur, a technique that will make it possible for a USB flash disk to hold a terabyte of data. As the size of a computer chip gets minute and powerful, their prevalence in the lives of people will increase. In future, it won’t be magic seeing people connecting to the internet via embedded chips.
