{"id":47496,"date":"2024-11-14T10:52:06","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T15:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/?post_type=news&p=47496"},"modified":"2024-11-14T10:52:06","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T15:52:06","slug":"transistors-that-remember","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/news\/transistors-that-remember\/","title":{"rendered":"Transistors That Remember"},"content":{"rendered":"

A team of Johns Hopkins materials scientists made a surprising discovery that could change the way memory works in electronics. By tweaking the materials used in organic material-based logic switches called transistors, they created a new kind of memristor\u2014devices that can remember past charging states when a current passes through it\u2014suggesting the potential for developing electronic memory systems that mimic the way human brains work. Their results appear in<\/span> Advanced Functional Materials<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Initially, our goal was to understand what happens during transistor charging,\u201d says team member and graduate student Riley Bond. \u201cWe wanted to pinpoint where the charge is trapped in these transistors and improve the device\u2019s overall charging capabilities, ensuring the transistors didn\u2019t short circuit when voltage was added.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Led by <\/span>Howard Katz<\/span><\/a>, professor of materials science and engineering at the Whiting School of Engineering, the team introduced a molecule called dibenzo tetrathiafulvalene, or DBTTF, to the transistors. This molecule forms crystals within the transistor\u2019s insulating layer, where the researchers predicted the charge would be stored. After injecting a small current across the modified transistor, they noticed an unexpected effect: the transistor retained its past charge, demonstrating a capability to remember, acting as a memristor. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUsually, transistors don\u2019t retain previous charges when recharged,\u201d says Bond. \u201cThis one adjusted based on the previous charge, indicating a memory-like function.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He noted a similarity in how memristors function and how the human brain forms memories.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we make new memories, new synapses form within neurons, and these changes in nerve pathways can be measured,\u201d says Bond. \u201cMemristors operate similarly, adjusting their current based on previous voltages, much the way the brain adapts. This means memristors could shift how computers handle data, improve efficiency, and learn.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They could also address concerns related to data storage strategies, which currently consume massive amounts of energy, he said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Every gigabyte of data in the cloud is physically stored on 48 billion transistors, located in huge warehouses. These switches are about as small as they can get \u2013 so, sticking with traditional transistor computing won\u2019t save space or energy,\u201d says Bond. \u201cA few memristors could replace so many transistors, which would increase computer efficiency while decreasing power consumption and the need for physical space,\u201d<\/span> he says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since its discovery, the team has expanded its focus.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWe are now exploring other transistors we\u2019ve experimented with, looking for memristor behavior and investigating if those transistors could be used in this new technology,\u201d says Bond.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-47496","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","news_categories-research"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTransistors That Remember - Department of Materials Science & Engineering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/news\/transistors-that-remember\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Transistors That Remember - Department of Materials Science & Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A team of Johns Hopkins materials scientists made a surprising discovery that could change the way memory works in electronics. By tweaking the materials used in organic material-based logic switches…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/news\/transistors-that-remember\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Department of Materials Science & Engineering\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Transistors That Remember - Department of Materials Science & Engineering","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/news\/transistors-that-remember\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Transistors That Remember - Department of Materials Science & Engineering","og_description":"A team of Johns Hopkins materials scientists made a surprising discovery that could change the way memory works in electronics. By tweaking the materials used in organic material-based logic switches…","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/news\/transistors-that-remember\/","og_site_name":"Department of Materials Science & Engineering","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/news\/transistors-that-remember\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/news\/transistors-that-remember\/","name":"Transistors That Remember - Department of Materials Science & Engineering","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-11-14T15:52:06+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/news\/transistors-that-remember\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/news\/transistors-that-remember\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/news\/transistors-that-remember\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Transistors That Remember"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/","name":"Department of Materials Science & Engineering","description":"Department of Materials Science & Engineering","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Department of Materials Science & Engineering","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}