The Center for Nanoscience and Engineering (CeNSE) at IISc has developed a framework for energy-efficient computing that holds promise for the development of next-generation electronic devices.
According to IISc, CeNSE researchers described the development of this energy-efficient computing platform in two recent papers. “Instead of using complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS), which are the building blocks of most electronic circuits today, the team used memristors, which can store data and perform calculations.
In a press release, IISc said that by inventing new memristors based on metal-organic complexes, the team was able to reduce the number of components required in the circuit, significantly increasing its speed and efficiency.
Molecular circuit element
Sreeesh Goswami, assistant professor at CeNSE and leader of both study published in Advanced Materials said “We have discovered a molecular circuit element that can store complex logic functions within itself, enabling computations in memory in fewer time steps and with far fewer elements than usual”.
Existing computing systems physically separate data processing and storage. Most computing power is consumed through back-and-forth communication between two locations.
Prof. Goswami stated, “We solve this problem by doing the computation and storing it in the same physical location & platform “exceeds” current state-of-the-art technologies in terms of size. We can now create arrays of devices that are more durable, consistent and reliable than commercial technologies such as flash storage.”
Due to the sequential nature of their operation, previously established memristor-based circuits are also limited in speed and more prone to error accumulation.
According to the researchers, the design of the new platform reduces the number of operational processes, increases speed and reduces the error rate.
Sreebrata Goswami, an expert scientist at CeNSE, invented the metal-organic compounds used to construct their platform.
By designing circuits that perform mathematical operations and comparing them to a conventional CMOS circuit, the team found that the new platform offers 47 times higher energy efficiency, 93 times higher operating speed and only 9% of the physical footprint of a typical CMOS circuit.
Connection with the censor
The team intends to attach the platform to a sensor, such as a smartphone screen, that detects touch, and evaluate how efficiently it processes the collected data..
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