Exploring Materials for More Efficient Computational Energy Usage
Key Highlights :
As the world continues to become more connected and reliant on wireless networks, data centers are becoming increasingly important for collecting, storing, and processing data. But with the rise of computational energy usage, the need for more efficient energy sources is becoming increasingly evident. A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Penn State University is exploring materials that could lead to the integration of memory directly on top of the transistor, potentially creating more energy-efficient processors.
The study, recently published in Science, explores materials that are ferroelectric, or have a spontaneous electric polarization that can be reversed by the application of an external electric field. Wurtzite ferroelectrics, which are mainly composed of materials already used in semiconductor technology, allow for the integration of new power-efficient devices for applications such as non-volatile memory, electro-optics, and energy harvesting.
The two institutions were brought together to collaborate on this study through the Center for 3D Ferroelectric Microelectronics (3DFeM), an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) program led by Penn State University. Carnegie Mellon's materials science and engineering department, led by Professor Elizabeth Dickey, was tapped for this project because of its background in studying the role of the structure of materials in the functional properties at very small scales through electron microscopy.
The research team designed an experiment combining the expertise of both institutions on the synthesis, characterization and theoretical modeling of wurtzite ferroelectrics. By observing and quantifying real-time polarization switching using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), the study resulted in a fundamental understanding of how such novel ferroelectric materials switch at the atomic level.
As research in this area progresses, the goal is to scale the materials to a size in which they can be used in modern microelectronics. The team is optimistic that their research will lead to more efficient and energy-saving devices in the future. If successful, this could reduce the energy consumption of data centers and potentially become the leading source of energy consumption in this century.
The study provides a deeper understanding of the materials that could potentially lead to the integration of memory directly on top of the transistor, creating more energy-efficient processors. It is a step forward in the development of materials that could reduce the energy consumption of data centers and potentially become the leading source of energy consumption in this century.
