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EEWeb
EDITORIAL STAFF
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Victor Alejandro Gao
General ManagerExecutive Publisher
Cody Miller
Global Media Director
Group Publisher
Embedded Developer CONTENTS
TECH TRENDS
Securing the IoT
Icon Labs Offers Embedded Security
for Smart Devices
CONTEST HIGHLIGHT
Winning Projects from NXP’sBig I.D.E.A. Contest
INDUSTRY INTERVIEW
The Next Wave of Embedded Architecture
Interview with Altera’s Chris Balough
EEWeb FEATURE
Embedded NRAM Memory
Nantero Utilizes Carbon Nanotubes forUnparalleled High-density Memory
4
20
10
28
4
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Embedded Developer
Icon Labs Offers Embedded
Security for Smart Devices
You’ve heard the warning. You’ve ignored it and now, it’s too late. You’ve been
hacked. More sinister than identity theft, hacking dooms your privacy, your home,
your car, and your family with the inevitability of cyber-intrusion. Unfortunately,
Hollywood writers aren’t fantasizing these cyber-crises; they’re fictionalizing
today’s headlines. While IoT-ready devices are being rushed to the market at
unprecedented speeds to keep up with demand, important security protocols are
getting pushed to the side, creating unsafe smart networks in hospitals, at work,
and at home. The good news is that Icon Labs—an embedded security solutions
company—has developed a Floodgate Security Framework to prevent these
occurrences from happening.
Securingthe IoT
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TECH TRENDS
5
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Embedded Developer
has been in the embedded world for
over 20 years, focused on real-time
operating system-based devices. “Overthe last several years, our specialty has
been insuring the security of embedded
devices,” says Ernie Rudolph, Executive
Vice President of Icon Labs. “The reason
is that these devices were not designed
to be connected to the Internet and
today they are. Twenty years ago, few
thought of the Internet connected world.
Twenty years ago nobody ever thought
it would be important to secure thosedevices. Now we know and many of
these devices are now out in the world,
unprotected and vulnerable to attack.”
For example, many medical devices are at
risk. It may sound like science fiction, but
European hackers recently invaded blood
gas analyzers in a hospital laboratory and
turned these devices into a backdoor into
the entire network of medical records. In
another instance, cyber-pirates installed
malware into x-ray machines, and patient
medical records were uploaded to the
Internet and sold on the black market.
Rudolph goes on to warn that not
even pacemakers inside of patients
are secure—it’s possible for embedded
medical devices to be commandeered
too, though it’s unlikely. That’s because
most security breaks are aimed at gaining
access to personal medical records and
health insurance information which can
be worth 20 times the value of a credit
card record on the black market. While
still a threat to the health of the patient,it is known that most disaffected cyber-
technicians are simply after the money.
The basic software architecture of many
medical devices and hospital systems
has not upgraded to improve security
since then, due to an overhaul that would
cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
According to Rudolph, securing medical
devices from cyber-attack is just one of
Icon Labs goals. Their Floodgate Security
Framework protects everything from IoT
appliances to the aerospace industry.
“What we have done is taken the
lessons learned in the IT world about
what needs to be done for security and
tailored those to the embedded world,”
Rudolph explains. “We can then bring
attention to its importance, and build
a framework for our products around
the necessary elements of embedded
security: things like secure boot,
firewalls, intrusion detection, secure
remote updates, and protocol filtering.”
Recent exploits of embedded devices
have breached the realm of urban
infrastructure. “There was a cyber-
attack in Puerto Rico a few years
ago,” says Rudolph. “It targeted
Ernie Rudolph,
Executive
Vice President
of Icon Labs
Most security breaks are aimed at gaining access
to personal medical records and health insurance
information which can be worth 20 times the value
of a credit card record on the black market.
Icon Labs’
Floodgate
Security
Framework
protects
everything
from IoT
appliances to
the aerospace
industry.
ICON LABS
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TECH TRENDS
7
smart meters and sold discounts to
change the meter so you get billed a
lower electric bill. The reported loss on
that was over 400 million dollars.”
Other unlikely, but vulnerable targets
include machines as innocuous as
refrigerators and printers. Hackers have
been known to turn web-connected
refrigerators and printers into bots
that send out spam. “That leads to
the second piece of our solution,” says
Rudolph. “The first is being able to block
unauthorized access. The second is
visibility to the enterprise and the ability
to manage, audit, track, correct, change
rules, and keep those devices safe.”
In the event that an unauthorized access
is attempted, reporting it is an essential
part of the security paradigm, particularly
in the commercial arena. The FDA
recently reported hundreds of medical
devices were shipped with hard-coded
passwords—a security problem waiting to
happen. If those passwords were found—
which is not that difficult—hackers can
gain unfettered access to control the
device, get more information, and, if
it’s on the network, potentially use the
device as an access point to infiltrate the
network. This is happening regularly with
credit card information being infiltrated
and utilized—in particular, the epic Target
Stores debacle last year, when forty
million credit card numbers were stolen.
Insurance authorization access codes
are even more valuable in the medical
space and the losses could be even
more staggering. Liabilities keep
mounting as thousands of IoT devices
are being rushed into development
without commensurate developments
in security. For any start-up, the prize in
technology is always about being first to
market and security takes a back seat.
“That is one of the reasons Icon Labs
began our initiative called the Internetof Secure Things,” Rudolph says. “Our
goal is to raise awareness that security
should be designed in.” As hacker attacks
are publicized, people are beginning to
recognize what happens when security
is not considered first. As Rudolph notes,
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Embedded Developer
“Executives are now asking if systems
are secure before launching. We hope
to expand those kinds of questions.”
As far as embedded devices areconcerned, securing them at the very
beginning, in the design phase, can be
inherently less costly than trying to fix
them after they have been discovered to
have avenues for attack. Once a device
is installed, modification is always more
difficult and expensive. For this reason,
Icon offers its Floodgate Defender
Appliance—a line of security devices
that are the first of their kind to protectconnected devices from Internet-based
attacks. Installed in front of a connected
device that lacks designed in security,
these modules run Icon’s Floodgate
software and provide many safety
functions like blocking, analyzing, feeding
information back, and awareness of
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TECH TRENDS
9
unauthorized access. The information
is sent back to an enterprise system to
initiate action. This intuitive information
affords flexibility to change rules and
behaviors and integrates with security
information and event management
system to perform analytics.
Rudolph calls this “big data” for security.
“Some engineers don’t like that term,
but from a marketing standpoint, it
makes sense, because we are gathering
a lot of information, feeding it back,
and analyzing it broadly to see if there
are patterns that should not occur.”
Most of us take for granted that every
device we put on an IT network has a
firewall. In the industrial space and theoperational technology space, that
isn’t the case. One revelation that Icon
Labs deals with is that their customers
revealed 70 percent of the threats are
internal. Not just malicious intrusions,
but also accidental, with serious financial
impacts. In other words, you can build a
fence around your house, you can lock
the door, but what if the intruder is locked
inside? Blocking or mitigate againstthose impacts is an important piece
of what Icon provides by securing the
individual devices inside the perimeter.
“For example, some industrial protocols,
like Modbus IP, do not have security,” says
Rudolph. “If someone has access to use
Modbus, they can not only read, but write,
because that capability inherently exists
in this insecure protocol. Our protocol
filtering determines whether that person
is allowed to read or write. All that does
is help to keep honest people honest. “
So what’s in the pipeline of prevention?
Today, companies are building secure
hardware modules that provide security
and secure storage and encryption
capability. The next necessity is software
to utilize and manage these functions.
Icon Labs is working with several
manufacturers where software is used
to manage the access and encryption
storage and the secure update capability
provided by the hardware. Icon Labs isalso targeting the smart home with its
Floodgate™ at Home, which features its
suite of security products that provide
device protection, management, and
incident reporting via a secure web page.
OEMs can embed Floodgate security
in the communication chips found in
many of the up-and-coming smart
home devices like thermostats, smoke
detectors, and home health sensors.The Floodgate Security Framework
offers users unprecedented security in a
new technology field that offers a broad
swath of hackable access points.
Luckily for you, Icon Labs has
got you covered.
OEMs can embed Floodgate security in the
communication chips found in many of the
up-and-coming smart home devices like thermostats,
smoke detectors, and home health sensors.
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GRAND PRIZE
Clemens Valens
2015 Dual PCB Configurable Logic Design Conte
I.D.E.A.TheBig
Winners
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O
ver the six-month period from January to June
2015, NXP Logic sponsored a contest, hosted by
Convergence Promotions, that involved using notone, but multiple products, like the new NXP 74AUP2G57GM
dual configurable logic devices in combination with the NXP
protection and filtering, small signal MOSFETs, small signal
diodes and load switch devices.
Co-branded as the 2015 Big IDEA (The InternationalDesign
EngineeringAward), the contest was co-sponsored byMouser, and involved using Mouser’s new MultiSIM BLUE
online circuit configuration tool in combination with a
development board.
The response was very enthusiastic, with close to 600
engineers from over two dozen countries competing in the
contest over the six-month period from January to June
2015, and vying for over $10,000 in prizes.
NXP and Mouser received many exceptional entries.
Finalists, who are highlighted in this article, designed
projects as complex and varied as a Class D audio amplifier,
an amateur radio, a floor-cleaning robot, a telsa coil, and a
vibrating bracelet.
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http://www.convergencepromotions.
com/TheBigIdea
These applicants successfully completed
three levels of competition during which
close to 600 engineers from over two
dozen countries competed, vying for over
$10,000 in prizes.
» In the entry level, competitors
submitted their registration and a
questionnaire.
» In the submission level, contestants
produced a schematic using the
schematic tool MultiSIM BLUE from
Mouser using a prescribed list of NXP
Devices, including
the Logic 74AUP2G57GM device.
» By the final completion level,
contestants were sent a design kit
containing an evaluation board with the
prescribed elements, and a manual to
help them with their final design
These submissions consisted of a detailed
record and documentation of their entry
process and results including:
» Videos and schematics
» Proof of execution on the
finished board
Scoring was based on Creativity (100
pts.), Documentation (100 pts.), and
Demonstration Videos (100 pts.) with
Bonus Multipliers that included using
each of these products in the block
diagram or schematic and in the final
board design:
» Protection & Filtering (20 Points)
» Small Signal MOSFETs (20 Points)
» Small Signal Diodes (20 Points)
» Load Switches (20 Points)
» Using MultiSIM BLUE (20 Points)
All for a total of 400 achievable points.
For more information about the
contest and the winning projects, visit:
http://www.convergencepromotions.
com/TheBigIdea
About the Contest “At NXP we are always highly motivated to challenge our community
with design contests that provoke creative use of our products. The Dual
PCB Configurable Logic Design Contest has received great applause from
editors around the world before launch, but to receive so many entries from
contestants all over the world has truly exceeded our expectations! The
way our community used all designated part types and went way beyond
the standard use of our Dual Configurable Logic has truly impressed us.
Additionally, the diverse survey responses and application ideas gathered
from the contest has potentially provided us with some great cutting-edge
product ideas. As always, we are looking forward to create the next contest
that will continue to engage our design community and help us to develop
products to better serve our customers.”
By Cliff Lloyd
Business development director
NXP Semiconductors, BL Logic
http://convergencepromotions.com/TheBigIdea.htmlhttp://convergencepromotions.com/TheBigIdea.htmlhttp://convergencepromotions.com/TheBigIdea.htmlhttp://convergencepromotions.com/TheBigIdea.htmlhttp://convergencepromotions.com/TheBigIdea.html
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» GRAND PRIZE WINNER ($3000)
Federico Armesto of Argentina with his Class D
Audio Amplifier
» FIRST PLACE WINNER ($2000)
Frank Latos of the USA with his Amateur Radio
» SECOND PLACE WINNER ($1500) Ryszard Milewicz of Poland with his Clear Robo 2
» THIRD PLACE WINNER ($1000)
Andreas Fiessler of Germany with his Tesla Coil
» HONORABLE MENTION ($500)Clemens Valens of France with his
Vibrating Bracelet
The Winners
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Federico Armesto used NXP’s
74AUP2G57GM Dual Configurable
Logic ICs to make the control stage of a
class D amplifier (see below). This type
of amplifier uses a PWM generated
signal to drive a full bridge. In creating
his amplifier, he implemented several
supporting circuits, including a dead time
generator, a PWM generator, a control
stage to avoid power failures, and a
drive stage.
Federico began with the dead time
generator, which he used to drive the
FETs of a half or full H bridge. When
driving the FETs in a bridge configuration,
precautions should be taken to ensure
that the FETs on the same column will
not conduct at the same time. For this
purpose, Federico implemented the deadtime circuit to generate two signals, one
for driving the high side FET and one
GRAND PIZE Class D Audio Amplifier
Federico Armesto, Designer
Argentina
Class D Audio
Amplifier Board
Implementation
for the lower side. He implemented this
circuit only one capacitor, one resistor and
a single 74AUP2G57GM IC (configurable
multi-function gate circuit from NXP with
Schmitt trigger inputs).
He then moved on to create the PWM
(which he first simulated using Mouser’s
MultiSIM Blue and a 100KHz square
wave), the control stage, and the drive
stage. Federico managed to use all of the
contest-required parts, as well as capture
his schematics and simulate his design on
the MultiSIM Blue.
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Frank Latos designed a transceiver
for the amateur radio 40 meter band
(7.0 - 7.3 MHz). It features a single-
conversion receiver (not to be confused
with the simpler “direct conversion” type),
is designed to provide 1W of output and
operates in the CW (“Morse code”) mode.
For his design, Frank only used the parts
provided by the Big Idea contest kit, with
the exceptions of an external power
supply and external amplified speaker.
Frank’s design (see below) had six
basic components:
• An RF amplifier and local oscillator
(LO), which when mixed provided the
intermediate frequency (IF)
• A crystal filter/IF amplifier
• A beat frequency oscillator (BFO) for
converting the IF signal to audio and
FIRST PLACE Amateur Radio
Frank Latos, Designer
USA
Amateur
Radio Board
Implementation
for providing the transmit versus receive
frequency shifts
• Aproduct detector for mixing the IF and
BFO signals to produce the audio output
• A transmit mixer for creating a 7 MHz signal
from the LO and BFO
• The final audio amplifiers
Frank managed to use the contest kit
MOSFETs, which were intended as power
switches, to perform as RF amplifiers,
and used all four sections of NXP’s
74AUP2G57GM logic ICs. He used Mouser’s
MultiSIM along with NXP’s SPICE models to
perform simulations. The gain predictions he
obtained from his simulations matched the
actual design results quite well.
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After carefully examining the
specifications of the contest kit
parts, Clemen Valens realized that
many were applicable for low-power,
battery-operated applications, and so
oriented his thoughts to the direction
of wearable electronics. He settled
upon the idea of a vibrating bracelet
(see below). A vibrating bracelet has
use in a variety of applications, such as
haptic communication (silent, non-visual
communication), stress reduction, heart
rate monitoring, or even as a metronome
for musicians.
To control a vibration motor, one needs
a driver, and this is the circuit Clemens
designed. He first designed and simulated
the circuit in the MultiSIM Blue software,
and then transferred it to the contest
demonstration board.
Except for the passive components
(resistors & capacitors) Clemens built the
complete circuit with the parts available
in the contest kit demonstration
board.
Mockup of
Vibrating Bracelet
HONORABLE MENTION Vibrating Bracelet
Clemens Valens, Designer
France
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CLICK HERE
Meet the experts in new
SoC FPGA technologies.
FRANKFURT, GERMANY
OCTOBER 14, 2015
SHENZHEN, CHINA
NOVEMBER 3, 2015
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA
SEPTEMBER 30, 2015
™
SPONSORS
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industry’s first events dedicated to exploring the benefits of SoC FPGAs.
What you’ll learn:
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INDUSTRY INTERVIEW
21
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INDUSTRY INTERVIEW
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INDUSTRY INTERVIEW
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https://www.altera.com/events/northamerica/altera-soc-
developers-forum/overview.highResolutionDisplay.html
26
Embedded Developer
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MYLINK
http://www.pcbweb.com/http://www.pcbweb.com/
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NRAM from Nantero Utilizes
CARBONNANOTUBES for Unparalleled
High-density Memory
50 times stronger
than steel — 1/50,000th the
diameter of a human hair
Carbon Nanotube used to
create Nantero’s NRAM®
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EEWeb FEATURE
In the fascinating microcosmic world of modern
semiconductor technology, it’s sometimes amazing
to realize that there are still huge leaps and bounds
ahead in both form and function. What may be even
more incredible in what is undeniably one of the tech
industry’s most competitive fields—memory—is that
a company like Massachusetts startup Nantero is
confidently holding their own on the crest of a market
dominated by household name giants like Micron
and Samsung.
With a little forethought and considerate
collaborative effort—just the sort of stuff that turns
your everyday startup into a force to be reckoned
with—Nantero’s co-founder, president, and CEO GregSchmergel came face to face with Tom Rueckes, a
PhD at Harvard who had an idea to make memory
using carbon nanotubes. Of course, as Greg recalls, he
knew the basic idea, but the question remained: “OK,
but what exactly is a carbon nanotube?” In coming
to answer that question, Greg, Tom, and Nantero
have found themselves standing deservedly on the
leading edge of the development of the memory of
the future.
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For those unfamiliar with the nature of th
game-changing materials breakthrough,
the name says it all. Carbon nanotubes are
nanoscopic tubes of fullerene carbon in th
family of carbon structures named after
geodesic dome pioneer Buckminster Fulle
and as such for their general structure ofa hollow space surrounded by a thin ‘net’
of carbon atoms. Some are round, but
carbon nanotubes are tunnel-shaped and
known for possessing almost preternatur
strength and conductivity. Nantero does
a good job of concisely summing up the
basic idea behind the benefits of using
the tiny carbon tubes in semiconductor
devices on their website: “Considered one
of the strongest materials known, with on
CNT being just 1/50,000th the diameter
of a human hair, these tiny cylinders are
50 times stronger than steel, half the
density of aluminum, and have better
thermal and electrical conductivity
properties than any other material
scientists are aware of today.” In all
honesty, it’s pretty exciting stuff.
What Schmergel did understand,
he points out, was “the need for
ultra-fast, non-volatile memory” and
that carbon nanotubes could be the
chance to push the envelope past
the capabilities of common DRAM
“Based on that, I spent the next
couple of months talking with
experts, professors, and so on, and
did enough research to know that I
wanted to pursue this technology.”
And so, in 2001, Nantero was brought to
life to do just that. Today, the company’s
nearly 200 granted US patents and
pending make it clear that
it hasn’t been in vain.
Carbon nanotubes aretunnel-shaped and known for
possessing almost preternatural
strength and conductivity.
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EEWeb FEATURE
Though Schmergel pointed out that it
was a bit of a slow road for Nantero at
first, he acknowledges wisely that, as
things have always gone in the field,
truly innovative semiconductor devices
“take many years to develop and get
into production.” He remembered that,“for the first few years, we were really
focused on small-scale lab work to
demonstrate the performance of the
memory and to show that it is low-
power enough.” In the first stages,
carbon nanotubes are grown from iron
nanoparticles as a catalyst. To make
things work as best as possible in their
unique applications, Nantero also had
to figure out how to actually make the
carbon nanotube material compatible
with existing technology. “That led to
some intensive work and we hired some
of the world’s top carbon nanotube
experts,” Schmergel explained, “and
now, we are the only company that has
managed to figure out how to purify
carbon nanotubes to less than one
part per billion of any contaminants.”
In a closer examination of what goes
into creating these futuristic building
blocks, Schmergel points out that
“there are two definitions of ‘purity’: the
one we use is what percent of carbon
nanotubes is actually carbon, versus
iron, nickel, cobalt, etc.” Nantero has
come a long way in its relatively short
lifespan to be able to create the purest
form of nanotubes available in the
industry. “A few years ago, our standard
was less than ten parts-per-billion,
but those requirements have gotten
more stringent as we’ve scaled down to
smaller nodes. Now it’s generally less
than one part-per-billion. We can achieve
that.” The other definition of purity is
what percentage of the nanotubes are
semiconducting versus how many are
metallic. This is something that Nantero’s
designs don’t need to take into account,
and it adds to the efficiency of theirdesigns. “We actually don’t separate
the semiconducting tubes from the
metallic tubes. This is because we’re
using them as nano-electromechanical
memory. It actually doesn’t matter.”
The effectiveness of nanotube-based
memory is also strongly rooted in the
material’s downright Herculean strength.
“In terms of endurance, nanotubes are
50 times stronger than steel, so moving
them a nanometer back and forth
will never wear them out,” Schmergel
explained. Unlike other materials that
wear out by changing their state a certain
number of times, nanotubes don’t seem
to suffer from the same degradation.
“We have tested the nanotube switching
cycles and have not witnessed any
signs of them wearing out at all.”
Nantero’s NRAM designs have definite
proven advantages, with their nanotube
structures allowing them to be both
as fast as and denser than standard
DRAM. NRAM, which is short for
Nano-RAM, is non-volatile, too, and
has very low energy needs. Outlining
some of the design’s other unique
strengths, Schmergel related that “in
terms of other memory, we feel we
have a unique combination with very
fast speeds and the ability to operate
with a DDR4 interface, which a lot of
other competitors cannot. We can scale
“...carbonnanotubes
could be the
chance to pus
the envelop
past the
capabilities o
common
DRAM.”
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down to below 5nm, too, which is another
unique characteristic of our memory.
Our memory was originally conceived
by Dr. Tom Rueckes as a 2-nanometer
memory with just two nanotubes moving
in and out of contact with each other. If
anything, our big challenge was scalingup as opposed to scaling down!”
Another obvious advantage of nanotube-
based memory is the ease of manufacture.
Because it is a very simple structure and
straightforward manufacturing process—
“no steps that anyone is unfamiliar
with”—manufacturers can expect to find
higher yields at lower costs. With just
a little deserved pride leaking out froman altogether humble and dedicated
demeanor, Schmergel beamed that “the
carbon nanotube material is also far
stronger than any of the materials used in
designs by our closest competitors, so that
leads to much more robustness, higher
endurance, and faster speed overall.”
For those interested more in the specific
architecture at work with Nantero’s
designs, we asked Schmergel what to
expect. “We are working on single-layer as
well as 3D multi-layer implementations,
for even higher densities and lower
costs. where we get to multiple layers
which are less than 6FSquared. We have
shown MLC in silicon as well, can have
both multi-layer and MLC as well, since
we have many nanotubes-per-bit and can
create intermediate resistance states.”
It would certainly seem, to this
amateur observer at least, that
the discoveries of the advantages
of carbon nanotube technology
are blissfully far from being
exhausted any time soon. It can
only be fairly assumed that, through
the demonstrative innovation of
companies like Nantero, much has
yet to be learned and gained from
the awesome carbon nanotube.
Unlike other materials that
wear out by changing their state a certain
number of times, nanotubes don’t
seem to suffer from the
same degradation.
SEM image of the deposited film (or fabric) of crossed
nanotubes that can be either touching or slightly
separated depending on their position.
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