Trits og ikke bits

Scientists
at University of Pennsylvania have been tinkering with
germanium-tellurium nanowires and have figured out how to make them
store data in three states. Yup, that’s 0,1 and 2… binary seems passé
now doesn’t it? According to the team, storing trits instead of bits
«could allow for a huge increase in the memory density of potential
future devices,» meaning higher capacity storage in the same size. And
using nanowires is a particularly good way to make memory chips because
it may be possible to make them self-organize, making «top-down»
silicon-chip fabrication seem clunky. The team’s busy perfecting their
understanding of nanowire size and chemistry, so don’t expect to see
results from the tech too soon. [Physorg] (av Kit Eaton)