Chinese scientists create the first ever “liquid” RAM (photo)
RAM is one of the key components in many electronic devices, so manufacturers are constantly striving to improve it. Scientists from Tsinghua University in China have made a perhaps unusual and yet very big step in this direction – according to them, they have developed the first ever rare-metal RAM, called FlexRAM.
The image published online looks a bit abstract, but, according to scientists, it depicts a rare-metal RAM. It consists of liquid gallium droplets for storing 1/0 binary memory values, which are placed in a stretchable biopolymer called Ecoflex.
One of the project’s authors said that the existing developments could form the basis of more advanced soft robots in the future, as well as become the basis for brain-computer systems. However, at this stage, the practical use of rare-metal memory is out of the question. The current version of FlexRAM consists of eight storage blocks that can operate on a single byte of data, which is not consistent with modern RAM models. And nowadays, liquid RAM is designed for only 3500 cycles, not millions.
Despite all the apparent disadvantages, Chinese scientists have made a real breakthrough in RAM technology that brings the future one step closer.
