New memory device operates at extreme temperatures above 1,100°F

Engineers at the University of Michigan have developed a new type of solid-state memory that can store and rewrite data at temperatures above 1,100°F (600°C), hotter than the surface of Venus.

This new device is different from typical silicon-based memory, which only works below 300°F (150°C). It uses oxygen ions to move data instead of relying on electron flow. This could make it possible to build electronics for extreme environments, like fusion reactors, jet engines, and geothermal wells.

Yiyang Li, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering and senior author of the study, said, "It could enable electronic devices for high-temperature applications that didn’t exist before." How it works:

• The device moves negatively charged oxygen atoms between two layers: a semiconductor (tantalum oxide) and a metal (tantalum), using a solid electrolyte barrier.
• Three platinum electrodes control the oxygen movement, similar to how a battery charges and discharges.
• The oxygen content in tantalum oxide determines if it's an insulator or conductor, allowing it to switch between two voltage states (0s and 1s).

The device needs temperatures above 500°F (250°C) to write data. However, researchers think a heater could help for devices operating in cooler environments. Currently, it stores just one bit, but the team believes it could hold much more, like megabytes or gigabytes, with further work.

This breakthrough could be especially useful for AI in extreme environments. Alec Talin, a senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories, pointed out, "There's a lot of interest in using AI to improve monitoring in these extreme settings, but they require beefy processor chips that run on a lot of power, and a lot of these extreme settings also have strict power budgets."

By enabling in-memory computing, this technology could process data before sending it to AI chips, saving energy in tough conditions.