Can magic BEANs eventually grow phase-change memory into a commercial reality?

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the University of California Berkeley have made nanoparticle versions of a germanium tin eutectic alloy that can assume the same sort of amorphous and crystalline states that other materials do in prototype phase-change memory (PCM). Because of the nanoparticles’ low thermal mass, the thermally-excited state transitions take only nanoseconds to occur. The researchers have dubbed the nanoparticles “BEANs” for binary eutectic-alloy nanostructures. While they have not yet directly characterized the electronic properties of the crystalline and amorphous BEAN states, related studies suggest that the electrical and optical properties of the two BEAN states will be substantially different and that the differences can be detected and used in a device. However, for now this finding is that of an interesting nanoparticle phenomenon, yet to be fully characterized, like Rice University’s silicon-oxide memristor discussed earlier. The LBNL and UC Berkeley teams published their findings in the journal NanoLetters and titled “Embedded Binary Eutectic Alloy Nanostructures: A New Class of Phase Change Materials.”