Electronic data is being produced at a breath-taking rate. Around ten zettabytes (ten trillion gigabytes) of data is stored in global server farms, and that’s doubling every two years. With computing already consuming 8% of global electricity, low-energy data-storage is a key priority. Next-generation ‘multi-state’ memory offers a highly energy efficient, low-cost, fast-access solution: stepping ‘beyond binary’ to store more data than just zeros and ones.

The total amount of data stored in data centres around the globe is of the order of ten zettabytes (a zettabyte is a trillion gigabytes), and we estimate that amount doubles every couple of years.

With 8% of global electricity already being consumed in information and communication technology (ICT), low-energy data-storage is a key priority.

To date there is no clear winner in the race for next-generation memory that is non-volatile, has great endurance, highly energy efficient, low cost, high density, and allows fast access operation.

The joint international team comprehensively reviews ‘multi-state memory’ data storage, which steps ‘beyond binary’ to store more data than just 0s and 1s.

MULTI-STATE MEMORY: MORE THAN JUST ZEROES AND ONES

Multi-state memory is an extremely promising technology for future data storage, with the ability to store data in more than a single bit (ie, 0 or 1) allowing much higher storage density (amount of data stored per unit area.

Story Source: Materials provided by ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.