NuPGA is a new startup (founded by Zvi Or-Bach), working on a carbon-based memory process. They want to use Graphene as the reprogrammable memory element inside vias on otherwise conventional FPGAs. The 'graphene-memories' can be reprogrammed an indefinite number of times - and they are insensitive to temperature changes and radiation.
Rice University researchers developed a bulk chemical process that converted nanotubes into nanoribbons, providing the raw material needed to perfect a technique based on using voltage pulses to make or break connections--essentially turning the carbon ribbons into reprogrammable switches. NuPGA plans to harness these reprogrammable switches in FPGAs by inserting graphite into vias between chip layers, allowing them to be reconfigured on-the-fly.
By making thin films from his slurries of carbon nanotubes--what he calls "graphene nanoribbons"--Tour perfected the memory architecture to be used in reprogrammable switches in NuPGA's chips. The process allows a voltage pulse to reprogram FPGAs by making or breaking the connection pathway through graphite-filled vias.
A 3.5-volt pulse breaks the connection while a 3-volt signal repairs the break, allowing the device to be switched on and off any number of times. A 1-volt signal allows circuitry to interrogate the memory cell to determine its memory state.
"We are also licensing our process for the making of thin-film sheet conductors for ink-jet printing of RFID tags and for other flexible electronic applications," said Tour.