Atom-thin walls inside a memory material, explained at last

Tomorrow's memory chips may store their ones and zeros in hafnium oxide, a material that keeps its electrical direction even with the power off. The denser the storage regions can be packed, the more the chip remembers — and that depends on the walls between regions being as thin as possible. Researchers at UNIST, led by Professor Lee Jun-hee, working with Professor Choi Si-young's team at POSTECH, have now explained how those walls form at the thickness of a few atoms and stay stable: pairs of lattice vibrations 'condense' together, a mechanism they confirmed with atomic-resolution electron microscopes. It is fundamental physics with a very practical destination — ultra-dense, low-power memory that sips electricity.

SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: tech innovation