The Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series presents Michael N. Kozicki of the Arizona State University on “Resistive Memory and the Internet of Things” on Friday, March 11, at 4:10 p.m. in Walter 245.
Michael N. Kozicki
Abstract: Moore’s Law has fueled the expectation that semiconductor components will continue to shrink and thereby enable electronic systems to increase in functionality with a decrease in cost. Scaling has also led to the introduction of smaller and lighter untethered systems, which rely on compact and thereby limited internal power sources. As part of this trend, we are witnessing a new generation of wireless electronic devices which service the “Internet of Things” (IoT), the connected community of devices, systems and services. Nearly all IoT devices require a small form factor so that they may be unobtrusive to users, and their autonomous operation mandates ultra-low energy consumption. Since memory accounts for a significant part of any information processing and communications system, it is obvious that memory for the IoT must function at extremely low energy and as non-volatile storage to retain data during periods of energy drought. In addition, the mobile electronics, wearable devices, and IoT markets are burdened with significant cost sensitivity and so the new memory technologies should be manufactured with as few critical processing steps as possible and with high array efficiency to minimize chip area. One particular class of “things” in the IoT concerns the human body, where more instrumentation is being worn or even implanted to improve quality of life or track exercise activities. Since the health segment of the IoT market includes medical devices, radiation tolerance becomes a necessity as the components must withstand gamma sterilization or therapeutic/diagnostic radiation exposure.
There is growing evidence that a new class of non-volatile memory, resistive random access memory (RRAM), fits the stringent requirements of the IoT. This presentation will focus on Conductive Bridging Random Access Memory (CBRAM®), a recently commercialized ultra-low power resistive memory technology, in the context of the IoT and mobile/wearable electronics.
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