
Nantero comes out of stealth mode: Carbon nanotube based non-volatile RAM - brotchie
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326794
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adventured
Cool technology... however this:

"He said NRAM offers appealing cost benefits as well. Because of the small
size of the carbon nanotubes, it can be easily shrunk, which means NRAM
doesn't face the same manufacturing challenges as other forms of memory"

is a pretty ridiculous claim for the next decade or so at least. It should
have said: theoretical cost benefits at some point in the distant future.
Today NRAM has horrible cost negatives, because you're manufacturing with
carbon nanotubes. It doesn't face the same manufacturing challenges as other
forms of memory, it faces drastically greater challenges. It's going to take a
long time to get this to an economy of scale, such that you can buy a gigabyte
of NRAM for a competitive price.

~~~
dexwiz
Nantero is not the only company making nanotubes. Nanotechnology as a whole,
and carbon nanotubes (CNT) as a prime component, have been a hot topic in
material science and chemistry for almost two decades now. Not just research
for applications, but for production. They are not alone in trying to solve
problems centered around nanotech. But the CNT production overall is still
very low (only 5k tons in 2014 according to this article
[http://globenewswire.com/news-
release/2015/04/22/727078/1013...](http://globenewswire.com/news-
release/2015/04/22/727078/10130125/en/Carbon-Nanotubes-CNT-Market-By-Product-
Single-Walled-Carbon-Nanotubes-SWCNT-Multi-Walled-Carbon-Nanotubes-MWCNT-By-
Application-Polymers-Energy-Electrical-Electronics-Is-Expected-To.html))

No one is saying the iPhone 8 will have NRAM. The manufacturing research and
implementation cycle is painfully slow. But if the cost/benefits may pay off
in 2025, someone needs to be looking at it today.

~~~
adventured
I completely agree that it's a future, potentially viable technology, and it
should be explored.

Some people in this thread certainly seem to think it's imminent, because
they're claiming it's all ready to be mass manufactured due to compatibilities
in the manufacturing process, and just taking Nantero's hype at face value
(like we were all supposed to be drowning in memristors by now, just ask HP).

------
hexscrews
Has the problem with organic contamination been resolved one way or another? I
remember reading that it can be hazardous to fish?

~~~
duaneb
Carbon nanotubes exist in many forms, including animal cells. I don't think
such a technology is straightforwardly hazardous or not.

Personally, I would prefer carbon nanotubes to toxic, rare metals.

~~~
sown
I have to disagree. Just having nanotubes flying around your blood stream
could probably lead to cirrhosis as the nanotubes of a certain length or more
would get trapped inside the liver, causing scaring and damage (
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19801780](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19801780))
similar to how miners can get miner's lung
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumoconiosis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumoconiosis)).

Ultimately it depends on what form the nanotubes are in, but I don't want them
just going nilly-willy around an environment.

~~~
duaneb
> I don't want them just going nilly-willy around an environment.

To be fair, you can say this about pretty much anything. But unlike
microbeads, which are intended to be flushed, nobody is suggesting that it
would be a good idea to release them into the environment.

~~~
sown
> To be fair, you can say this about pretty much anything. But unlike
> microbeads, which are intended to be flushed, nobody is suggesting that it
> would be a good idea to release them into the environment.

Very true. I'm surrounded by stainless steel but I don't get chromium
poisoning. I'm just worried about side effects, about extra CWNT getting out
into the open, like how prescription drugs are appearing in the environment.

