Kumar said:
Hello all,
As you know that I am in search of 'how memory can be stored', I tried to read on internet. But it is too technical for me.
*sniip*
. Whether Carbon can be considered as a semi-conductor(Diamond is mentioned) for this purpose?
2. What about Hydrogen for this purpose?
3. Which type/s of storage of memory is/are used for 'human's memory?
Rest all is as usual.
Best Wishes.
Computer memory basically works like an array of switches. To store a number (and in a computer, all is boiled down to numbers), a group of switches are set in an appropriate code pattern. The code used is binary. Binary numbers are as follows=
0=0
1=1
(easy so far, but watch out!)
2=10
3=11
4=100
5=101
6=110
....etc.
Imagine that 0=open switch, and 1= closed switch, and you have a basic idea of how a computer memory works. Now, computers that were using actual switches (relays) were built in first half of the 20th century, but they were slow and primitive. Later, vacuum tubes were used, but even house-sized vacuum tube computers had less capacity than an average modern pocket calculator.
The present revolution in computers was made possible by
semiconductors. Semiconductor technology enables us to cram millions of switches onto a single crystal surface of less than a square centimetre.
So what is a semiconductor? A semiconductor is a crystal lattice of an element that does not conduct electricity in pure condition. By introducing the right impurities, it is possible to make it conduct in a very controllable way. By using a long and complicated row of photochemical processes, a complex electronic circuitry can be etched and built onto the surface of a semiconductor crystal.
Several substances are useful for this purpose, but by far the most commonly used is silicon. Others are germanium (obsolete for most purposes) and various gallium arsenide compounds. On the experimental level is diamond, which some think holds promise of becoming the ultimate semiconductor. Various other substances are being explored.
Carbon:
Carbon is not normally used as a semiconductor, since it is a conductor in most forms. However, it cannot be ruled out that nanotchnology might bring us carbon semiconductor components.
Hydrogen:
Hydrogen is theorized to have a crystalline form under extreme pressures and temperatures near the absolute zero. We don't know enough about this form to be able to say whether a semiconductor could be formed from it, but since it has only one valence bond (semiconductor structures play with valence bonds), this is unlikely, and it will certainly not be useful under any conditions prevailing on planet Earth.
Notice that whatever the substance, to act as a semiconductor, it must form a crystal lattice.
Human memory:
Human memory is entirely different. First of all it is not digital, like that of a computer, it is analogue. It works by neural networks, and electrochemistry.
Hans
