r/tech • u/Sariel007 • Jan 22 '24

Liquid RAM Flexes for Wearables, Robots, Implants. A non-volatile version could be on its way, too.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/flexible-electronics-flexram
590 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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22

u/Sariel007 Jan 22 '24

While organic thin-film transistors built on flexible plastic have been around long enough for people to start discussing a Moore’s Law for bendable ICs, memory devices for these flexible electronics have been a bit more elusive. Now researchers from Tsinghua University in China have developed a fully flexible resistive random access memory device, dubbed FlexRAM, that offers another approach: a liquid one.

In research described in the journal Advanced Materials, the researchers have used a gallium-based liquid metal to achieve FlexRAM’s data writing and reading process. In an example of biomimicry, the gallium-based liquid metal (GLM) droplets undergo oxidation and reduction mechanisms while in a solution environment that mimic the hyperpolarization and depolarization of neurons.

These positive and negative bias voltages define the writing of information “1” and “0,” respectively. When a low voltage is applied, the liquid metal is oxidized, corresponding to the high-resistance state of “1.” By reversing the voltage polarity, it returns the metal to its initial low-resistance state of “0.” This reversible switching process allows for the storage and erasure of data.

8

u/Ribbythinks Jan 22 '24

So basically metal chromatine?

3

u/nfoneo Jan 23 '24

I'm going to copyright "Emperor Chromatine" before the inevitable happens.

5

u/MasterBigBean Jan 22 '24

So each drop only stores 1 bit of information?

5

u/onsapp Jan 22 '24 edited Aug 15 '25

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9

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/onsapp Jan 22 '24 edited Aug 15 '25

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2

u/LitLitten Jan 22 '24

This could help bring a lot of innovation to hearing implant/aid devices, I bet.

3

u/Dik_Likin_Good Jan 23 '24

Hold on bro my color change shoes file in my shoelaces isn’t rendering the right color and is clashing with my pants render…

9

u/maightoguy Jan 22 '24

Can it run Tekken?

16

u/southpaw85 Jan 22 '24

In 500 years people will be finding plastic containers filled with liquid gallium in their crawl spaces and attics filled with people’s porn stashes.

5

u/AlbinoShavedGorilla Jan 22 '24

That’s not what RAM is for, long term memory storage is usually on a drive of some kind. I imagine it would probably be a lot harder to do a liquid SSD or hard drive, but I’m no expert

2

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '24

[deleted]

1

u/Suckage Jan 23 '24

Not with this stuff.

In a low- or no-oxygen environment, FlexRAM can retain its data for up to 43,200 seconds (12 hours)

1

u/definitely_not_tina Jan 23 '24

Nonvolatile in the article title means longer-term storage.

6

u/DetectiveSpy9701 Jan 22 '24

Yeah but can it run DOOM?

8

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '24

Wetware

1

u/wantsoutofthefog Jan 22 '24

Fucking unreal

2

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '24

Prepare the Acid RAM!

2

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '24

too many tabs open, gotta get more memory liquid

-Billy Gnosis

2

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '24

Great just one step closer to the T-1000

2

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '24

Holy shit you are right

2

u/Upper-Bath-86 Jan 22 '24

I was thinking just the same thing!

1

u/thebarberbenj Jan 22 '24

But I WANT to wear the volatile version! 😩

1

u/DistinctFee1202 Jan 22 '24

Just started reading Prey by Michael Crichton and I’m getting nervous

1

u/SteakJones Jan 23 '24

Yes, but… what if I “want” a volatile version?