Wednesday, 23rd March 2005 (3178 views)

Researchers have used gold particles and polystyrene to create a thin film for information storage.

The Rohm and Hass Electronic Materials Company and researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles have devised the material, which is low cost and offers high speed non-volatile memory.

According to TRN Magazine, the researchers claim the memory is potentially much faster than today's CDs and DVDs in terms of reading and information being written onto it.

A layer of polystyrene and gold particles is sandwiched between aluminium electrodes and is easy to make, using little power.

In addition, layers of the film can be stacked, allowing it to store even more information.

When testing the material, the researchers prepared a solution of polystyrene and gold nanoparticles ranging from 1.6 to 4.4 nanometers in diameter and used spin casting to produce the thin layer.

It is hoped the device could be used practically within two to five years.

 

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