qt - computer applications - leclair_public_talk
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8/22/2019 QT - Computer Applications - Leclair_public_talk
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Electron tunnelingfrom quantum weirdness to your hard disk
Patrick LeClair
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tunneling?
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
a particle can pass through a “forbidden” region
analogy:
I could run right through the whiteboardclassically :
impossible!I am just “reflected”
quantum physics: there is a chance any weird thing can happen.it may not be a good chance!
example:
an electric current flowing across an insulator
quantum tunneling?
X
classical
quantum
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
light waves: colored glass
a very thick piece is not transparent a very thin piece is
light decays, but some makes it throughCDs are coated with metal
electron waves: behave similarly to light electrons can go through an insulator, if it is thin enough!this is “quantum tunneling”
based on probability ...
only possible for tiny, light particles on the nanoscale
an everyday analogy of sorts
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
electron tunneling?
a current flows between two metalsseparated by an insulator
electrons can appear across the barrier!
insulator must be very thin
10,000 times thinner than a hair
normal electronics - negligibleonly in specially designed structures
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
total internalreflection
scattered light
acrylic plane L E D
air
optical analogies
total internal reflection
used in the iPhonetouch screen ...
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CENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYAn NSF Science and Engineering Center
IBM 350 RAMAC, the first hard disk
it stored about 4.4Mb
wikipedia.org - “RAMAC”
Toshiba’s 0.85-inch hard disk drive
the smallest HDD in the world.
capacity: 4 GB
What uses quantum tunneling? Your hard disk!
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
the need for hard disks (tech)volatility of semiconductor memories!
lose their memory when the power goes outneed some sort of nonvolatile storage necessarywhy not just battery backup of RAM?
cost per GB
RAM + batteries is too expensive!still has an easy failure mechanism ...
size & throughputhigher latency
bandwidth is hugeenormous capacity
endurance“unlimited” cycling
punched cards are nonvolatile
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
the need for mass storage (human)
soundseveral MB per minute / lossy (MP3)tens of MB per minute / “lossless”
pictures
several MB per image
video~ 1 MB per secseveral GB per movie
with lossy compression!
data miningenormous databases
apple.com
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
how do hard disks work, more or less?
spinning part holds data. (~104 rpm)sliding part reads and writes data. (~150 ft/sec)
wikipedia.org - “Hard_Disk”
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
160 Gbit 2.5” perpendicular drive for laptops
hard disk drives
images from M. Coey
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
160 Gbit 2.5” perpendicular drive for laptops
Magnetic medium
hard disk drives
images from M. Coey
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
160 Gbit 2.5” perpendicular drive for laptops
Read-write head
Magnetic medium
hard disk drives
images from M. Coey
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
160 Gbit 2.5” perpendicular drive for laptops
Voice-coil actuator
Read-write head
Magnetic medium
hard disk drives
images from M. Coey
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
160 Gbit 2.5” perpendicular drive for laptops
Spindle motor
Voice-coil actuator
Read-write head
Magnetic medium
hard disk drives
images from M. Coey
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
8 Gbit 1” drive forcameras 160 Gbit 2.5” perpendicular drive for laptops
Spindle motor
Voice-coil actuator
Read-write head
Magnetic medium
hard disk drives
images from M. Coey
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
media basics
Hard disctiny magnetized regionsdirection (N or S) stores bitmagnetic sensor reads bits
LP recordstiny bumps store bitsneedle moves up and down
CDspits store bitsoptical reflectivity
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
reading and writing basics Jimmy Zhu, Materials Today , July/Aug 2003
tiny electromagnet changes bits from N⇄ S
magnet sensor reads direction of bits
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
positioning basics
www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/op/actActuator-c.html
• current powers a voice coil†
• field generated moves head L or R• more precise than stepper motors
† this is the same way a speaker cone moves
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
positioning basics
www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/op/actActuator-c.html
• current powers a voice coil†
• field generated moves head L or R• more precise than stepper motorsIBM 62PC "Piccolo" HDD, ~1979 - an early 8" disk
wikipedia.org - “Hard_Disk”
† this is the same way a speaker cone moves
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
The incredible shrinking bit!Predicted relative sizes of storage bits
2004
2002
2006
20082010
2012: 4.4 nm x 4.4 nm
50 nm
400 nm
(assumes areal densities continue to double yearly)
(one hair: ~50,000 nm ... 100 times smaller)
1 terabit per in2 = 1 trillion bits per in2 ... maybe within a few years!
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
• > 3.4 million high-resolution photos, or …
• 2,800 audio CDs, or…
• 1,600 hours of television, or …
10 TB per in2 on a quarter ?
(or, one bit for every $ of the national debt)
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
• > 3.4 million high-resolution photos, or …
• 2,800 audio CDs, or…
• 1,600 hours of television, or …
Library of Congress,Jefferson building
• the entire printedLibrary of Congress
10 TB per in2 on a quarter ?
(or, one bit for every $ of the national debt)
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
• we write with a tiny electromagnetthey actually work better when smaller
• tiny fringing fields to measure …• needs to be very fast …
• needs to be tiny …
this is where quantum tunneling comes in!
How to measure these small magnetic bits?
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
First, what is special about magnets?
N S
where does magnetism come from?
atoms = electrons + nucleus
electrons behave like little magnets, either N or S
non-magnetic materials have equal numbers of N & Spermanent magnets have more of one than the other!
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
tunneling between magnets
electrons are like little magnets: can be N or S
permanent magnets: more N than S!
electric currents coming from magnets: made up of more N than S
electrons do not like to tunnel into magnets pointing the wrong way!
N→ N or S→ S preferred!
Current between magnets depends on how they are aligned!
Same direction (both N) -- no problemOpposite direction (one N, one S) -- electrons do not want to go!
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
T M R
large flow of electrons
⇒ low resistance
small flow of electrons
⇒ large resistance
> 200%
topelectrode
bottomelectrode
filled
states
empty
states
“tunneling magnetoresistance”
amount of current tunneling between two magnets
depends on how they are aligned
quantum tunneling can sense the orientation of magnets!
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
putting it together
magnetic tunnel device reads
flies over bitsone magnet = FIXEDone magnet = FREE
fringing field changes free magnet
rotates direction slightly
changes current = reading!
quantum tunneling retrieves the data from your hard disk
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
“0”
“1”
Magnetic RAM
Hard disk sensor
tunneling devices are small & sensitive enough!
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
how does FLASH memory relate?
f
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
the basics of Flash
source drain
semiconductorchannel
storage layer
control gateinsulator
• electrons go between source and drain
• ‘control gate’ regulates how many
negative voltage stops electrons, positive helps
positive V - channel pinched
negative V - channel open
insulator
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
~12V~7V
storage layer
control gate
e- e- e- e-
e-
source drain
writing
• apply voltage to drain -- pull electrons through channel
• put a positive voltage on control gate
also pulls some electrons into storage layer, via tunneling!
• charge on storage layer = “0” .... we just wrote information
• electrons do not leak off until a voltage helps them tunnel out!
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
~ -9VOPEN
storage layer
control gate
e-
e-
~6V
source draine- e-
erasing
• negative voltage on controlpushes electrons away
blocks the channel• positive voltage on source
sucks out the electrons, only to the source
• no charge left on storage layer ... just erased our “0” and made “1”
reset all bits to “1”
X
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
~5V~1V
storage layer
control gate
e- e- e- e-
e-source drain
reading
• medium voltage on control, barely open
• if there is charge on the storage layer ...those electrons repel electrons going from S to Dchannel is pinched off = “0”
• no charge on storage layer,channel is open!
• presence of charge makes current high or low = readout
X
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An NSF Science and Engineering Center
what’s so great about flash?
no mechanical limitations
lower latency
= attractive for speed, noise, power consumption, reliability.
++
--
cost/GB still significantly higher (but decreasing rapidly!)
finite number of erase/write (typically 106 cycles guaranteed)
it wears out eventually there are clever ways to prolong lifetime
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMACENTER FOR MATERIALS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
summaryweird quantum physics is in use all around you
it takes some getting used to
but it gives us some neat toys!
contact:
bama.ua.edu/~physics