Material properties in optically accessible memory devices

超低能耗电子设备最有前途的竞争者之一是rram和mram，它们提供可持续扩展的“神经形态”计算，有可能将IT能耗降低50%以上。了解开关机制的纳米级动力学是实现高续航设备的必要条件，只有这样才能将其集成到快速、低能耗、内存逻辑架构中。然而，目前纳米尺度的动力学研究是通过电子显微镜进行的，这是一种破坏性和侵入性的技术，并且材料受到与设备操作下的条件截然不同的条件，所有这些都阻碍了真正理解的发展。利用最近实现的超集中光，该项目将开发创新的快速方法来研究支撑新一代超低能量存储纳米设备的单个原子的实时运动，从而克服传统研究技术的局限性，为可持续的未来IT开辟新的途径。

One of the most promising contenders for ultralow-energy electronic devices are RRAMs and MRAMs which deliver sustainably-scalable 'neuromorphic' computing, potentially capable of reducing energy consumption in IT by over 50%. Understanding the nanoscale kinetics of the switching mechanisms is needed to enable high-endurance devices - only this can unlock their integration into fast, low-energy, logic-in-memory architectures. However, nanoscale kinetics are currently studied by electron microscopy which is a destructive and invasive technique, and the material is subject to drastically different conditions to those under device operation, all of which prohibit the development of true understanding. Using the ultra-concentration of light recently achieved, this project will develop innovative fast ways to study real-time movement of individual atoms that underpins this new generation of ultra-low energy memory nano-devices, thus overcoming the limitations of traditional investigation techniques and opening up new routes to sustainable future IT.