Two-dimensional materials could enable low-power telecommunications

Abstract

Two-dimensional materials can be exploited to make a new kind of electronic device that researchers have dubbed an atomristor. In early stage studies, the researchers have demonstrated a possible application for atomristors in low-power communications circuits (Nano Lett. 2017, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b04342). The device’s name comes from “atomically thin memristor.” Memristors are the odd cousin of the electronics family, capable of acting in ways similar to memory cells and transistors. They’re particularly promising for use in computer memory because they are nonvolatile: Even when the power is turned off, they hold onto their data. Scientists are also exploring memristors for brainlike computing applications because the devices can both process and store information, like neurons do. And like real neurons, they can exist in a variety of states, not just as a 1 or a 0, because their electrical resistance can be varied along a continuum. Researchers believed that memristors could not