Metal Clusters Designed For Computer Memory

Seeking to keep up with technology’s relentless drive for smaller and smaller electronic components, chemists have developed molecules that could be the next big little thing in flash memory storage. In flash memory, components can be erased and reprogrammed using electricity. Flash memory components currently in computers and smartphones use metal oxide semiconductor materials. But scaling down these materials further while increasing storage capacity has been challenging. Researchers have suggested using single molecules as flash memory components. However, the molecules that have been proposed so far suffer from low electrical conductivity, high resistance, and finite thermal stability. Scientists led by Leroy Cronin of the University of Glasgow believe polyoxometalate clusters, such as [W₁₈O₅₄(SeO₃)₂]^4–, can circumvent these problems (Nature 2014, DOI: 10.1038/nature13951). “Not only do the clusters act as perfect examples of trapped charge essential for flash memory programming,” Cronin explains, but “electronically active dopants within the clusters can be shifted between two oxidation states, Se(IV) to Se(V), giving a new type of memory behavior.” Cronin’s group has demonstrated that polyoxometalates are compatible with current device-fabrication technology.