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www.us-tech.com
October, 2024
Improving the Design of Microelectronics
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — A new study led by researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities is providing new insights into how next-generation elec- tronics, including memory com- ponents in computers, break- down or degrade over time. Un- derstanding the reasons for degradation could help improve efficiency of data storage solu- tions.
Device Degradation Advances in computing
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technology continue to increase the demand for efficient data storage solutions. Spintronic magnetic tunnel
junctions
(MTJs) — nanostructured de- vices that use the spin of the electrons to improve hard drives, sensors, and other microelectron- ics systems, including Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM) — create promising al- ternatives for the next genera- tion of memory devices. MTJs have been the build-
ing blocks for the non-volatile memory in products like smart watches and in-memory comput- ing with a promise for applica- tions to improve energy efficien- cy in AI.
Using a sophisticated elec-
tron microscope, researchers looked at the nanopillars within these systems, which are ex- tremely small, transparent lay- ers within the device. The re- searchers ran a current through the device to see how it operates. As they increased the current, they were able to observe how
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the device degrades and eventu- ally dies in real time. “Real-time transmission
electron microscopy (TEM) ex- periments can be challenging, even for experienced re- searchers,” says Dr. Hwanhui Yun, postdoctoral research asso- ciate in the University of Min- nesota’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Sci- ences. “But after dozens of fail- ures and optimizations, working samples were consistently pro- duced.” By doing this, they discov-
ered that over time with a con- tinuous current, the layers of the device get pinched and cause the device to malfunction. Previous research theorized this, but this is the first time researchers have been able to observe this phe- nomenon. Once the device forms a “pinhole” (the pinch), it is in the early stages of degradation. As the researchers continued to add more and more current to the device, it melts down and completely burns out. Looking more closely at the
device at the atomic scale, re- searchers realized materials that small have very different proper- ties, including melting tempera- ture. This means that the device will completely fail at a very dif- ferent time frame than anyone has known before. The re- searchers hope this knowledge can be used in the future to im- prove design of computer memo- ry units to increase longevity and efficiency. Web:
www.umn.edu r
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Continued from page 1 “There’s been a lot of re-
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search using silk as a way of modulating electronic signals, but because silk proteins are nat- urally disordered, there’s only so much control that’s been possi- ble,” says James De Yoreo, a Bat- telle Fellow at PNNL with a dual appointment as a Professor of Materials Science and Engineer- ing and of Chemistry at the Uni- versity of Washington. “So, with our experience in controlling ma- terial growth on surfaces, we thought ‘what if we can make a better interface?’” To do that, the team careful-
ly controlled the reaction condi- tions, adding individual silk fibers to the water-based system in a precise manner. Through precision laboratory conditions, the team achieved a highly or- ganized 2D layer of proteins packed in precise parallel sheets. Further imaging studies and
complementary theoretical cal- culations showed that the thin silk layer adopts a stable struc- ture with features found in natu- ral silk. An electronic structure at this scale, less than half the thickness of a strand of DNA, supports the miniaturization found everywhere in the bio-elec- tronics industry. “This type of material lends
itself to what we call field effects,” said De Yoreo. “This means that it’s a transistor switch that flips on or off in response to a signal. If you add, say, an antibody to it, then when a target protein binds, you cause a transistor to switch states.” Indeed, the researchers are
planning to use this starting ma- terial and technique to create their own artificial silk with functional proteins added to it to enhance its usefulness and specificity. Web:
www.pnnl.gov r
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