Capacitors made out of platinum and lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) are enabling the production of densely-packed memory storage.

Researchers in Germany and Korea claim to have constructed the storage with a density of 176 billion bits on a square inch, which is a new world record.

The storage can be controlled and can save memory permanently, meaning the chips could be used as a replacement for current working memories which need refreshing.

The new technology could be used in products that require space for large amounts of data in small physical size such as MP3 players, mobile phones or satellite navigation systems.

Dietrich Hesse, a scientist at the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics in Halle, Germany, has worked on the research and believes if it can be produced simply and efficiently.

He believes the technology could make the need for a hard-drive and the booting of a computer a thing of the past.

The new platinum cover completes the capacitors where the precious metal layer serves as an electrode, Nanowerk news reports.

"Remarkably, the individual sandwiches made of platinum and PZT do not get caught in the pores," said Mr Hesse.

The research was conducted by the Max Planck Institute, as well as the Pohang University of Science and Technology in Korea and the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science.



Source:
Giant memory thanks to tiny capacitors 26/06/08
http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=6201.php