[ExI] Intelligent computing in extreme environments, including data centers in space

Tue May 12 11:57:12 UTC 2026

On Mon, May 11, 2026 at 11:44 AM Amalie Sinclair <anadem at yahoo.com> wrote:

*> How amazing ... temperatures higher than molten lava ! This discovery
> indicates whole dimension of information sharing potential, via SBSP
> utilities*
>

*A memristor would be extremely useful even if you didn't consider its
enormous resistance to heat and radiation. A memristor is a two-terminal
gadget whose electrical resistance changes based on the history of the
voltage applied to it, so it can be used as a non-volatile memory device.
But that's not all, If you arrange memristors in a "crossbar array" you can
perform vector-matrix multiplication much faster than we can today because
it can do it in a single step. And today it can take 1000 times more energy
to move information across a chip than performing the actual calculation,
but memristors don't have that problem because the memory and the
processing are already at the same spot. *

*Vector-matrix multiplication is not the only sort of computation so a
memristor would not be good at every sort of problem, like those that use
Boolean Logic with a lot of if-then branching. You'd still need to have
some CPUs with MOSFET NAND and NOR gates, but when it comes to AI the chief
bottleneck does not come from the messy logic of branching code, it comes
from the high energy usage and slow processing of matrix multiplication.
And that is exactly what memristors are very good at. *

* John K Clark*

> On Monday, May 11, 2026 at 03:21:21 PM GMT+1, John Clark <
> johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> There was an article in the March 26, 2026 issue of the journal science
> that I found particularly interesting:
>
> *High-temperature memristors enabled by interfacial engineering*
> <https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeb9934>
>
> They invented a memory *AND* processing device that can operate at
> temperatures over 700 °C, can store data for over 50 hours at that
> scorching heat, and is also at least as fast as conventional devices. One
> of the inventors said :
>
>  "Creating high-operating-temperature accelerators could enable
> intelligent computing in extreme environments, including space applications
> or data centres".
>
> That made me wonder if resistance to heat would also mean it was
> resistant to cosmic rays of the sort it would receive in space, so I asked
> Gemini and this is what he she or it said:
> ==
>
> Gemini:  " The article you linked, *"High-temperature memristors enabled
> by interfacial engineering"* (published in *Science*, March 2026),
> describes a major breakthrough in electronics designed for extreme
> environments.
> Summary of the Article
>
> The research team, led by *J. Joshua Yang* at the University of Southern
> California, developed a new type of *memristor*—a nanoscale component
> that acts as both memory and a processor—that can operate reliably at
> temperatures up to *700°C (1,300°F)*. This is significantly hotter than
> molten lava and far surpasses the ~200°C limit where traditional silicon
> chips fail.
>
>    -
>
>    *The Design:* The device is a "sandwich" of three materials: *Tungsten
>    (W)* on top, *Hafnium Oxide (HfOx)* in the middle, and *Graphene* on
>    the bottom.
>    -
>
>    *The Breakthrough:* In traditional chips, high heat causes atoms from
>    the metal electrodes to "leak" or diffuse into the insulating layers,
>    creating a short circuit. The researchers used *graphene* as a bottom
>    electrode because its atomic structure is extremely stable. It acts as an
>    "interfacial barrier" that prevents tungsten atoms from migrating into the
>    other layers, even at extreme temperatures.
>    -
>
>    *Performance:* The chip maintained an ON/OFF ratio (for data storage)
>    for over 50 hours at 700°C and survived over *one billion switching
>    cycles*. This makes it the most stable high-temperature memory device
>    ever recorded.
>
> Does Heat Resistance Equal Radiation Resistance?
>
> Your question touches on a key challenge in "extreme environment"
> engineering. While high-temperature resistance and radiation resistance are
> technically different, *they are closely related, particularly for the
> materials used in this study.*
> 1. The Physics of "Atomic Migration"
>
> In space, radiation (like protons and heavy ions) damages electronics by
> knocking atoms out of their crystal lattice, a process called *displacement
> damage*. High heat causes a similar problem: atoms vibrate so much they
> drift out of place (*thermal diffusion*).
>
>    -
>
>    *The Link:* The "interfacial engineering" (using graphene to block
>    atoms from moving) that makes this chip heat-resistant also makes it more
>    robust against radiation-induced displacement. Because the interface is
>    designed to be "atomically stubborn," it is much harder for radiation to
>    cause the kind of material leakage that usually kills space-grade chips.
>
> 2. Thermal Annealing (The "Healing" Effect)
>
> There is a unique phenomenon where being *hot* can actually help a device
> survive *radiation*. In a process called *thermal annealing*, the high
> temperature provides enough energy for atoms that were knocked out of place
> by radiation to "settle" back into their correct positions.
>
>    -
>
>    Because this memristor is designed to *operate* at 700°C, it could
>    potentially "self-heal" radiation damage in real-time, whereas a standard
>    chip would simply accumulate defects until it failed.
>
> 3. The Tardigrade Connection (Biology vs. Electronics)
>
> You likely noticed a parallel with *tardigrades* (water bears). In
> biology, resistance to high temperatures (and desiccation) almost always
> confers resistance to radiation.
>
>    -
>
>    *Why?* Both heat and radiation damage cells in the same way: by
>    creating reactive oxygen species (free radicals) and breaking DNA strands.
>    Tardigrades evolved proteins like *Dsup (Damage Suppressor)* to
>    protect their DNA from drying out; these same proteins happen to shield the
>    DNA from space radiation.
>    -
>
>    *In Electronics:* The logic is similar. By choosing materials like
>    *Tungsten* (highest melting point) and *Graphene* (strongest atomic
>    bonds), the engineers have selected materials that are inherently "stiff"
>    against any kind of energy—whether that energy comes from a heat lamp or a
>    cosmic ray.
>
> Conclusion
>
> For this specific article, *yes*, the resistance to high temperatures is
> a strong indicator of high radiation resistance. The use of graphene as a
> diffusion barrier specifically targets the "movement of atoms" which is the
> primary failure point for both heat and radiation in nanoscale electronics.
> This makes this technology a prime candidate for missions to the surface of
> *Venus* or for logic systems located near *nuclear reactors*."
>
> *   John K Clark    See what's on my list at  Extropolis
> <https://groups.google.com/g/extropolis>*
>
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