University of South Africa
Overview of innovation

The invention relates to a method of fabricating a commercially viable biodegradable and transparent resistive random-access memory (ReRAM) chip with substantially high (>7 orders of magnitude) resistive switching behaviour using low operating power. The method makes use of a simple and affordable scalable fabrication process of an active biodegradable polymer, to produce a transparent ReRAM chip. The device made up of biodegradable material (polymer-chitosan) is reliable for use in next-generation electronic devices as it responds to environmentally sustainability regulation through the reduction of electronic waste.

ReRAM has overcome the challenges faced by dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and static random-access memory (SRAM) of content loss by using materials that change resistance in response to voltage. This means that the memory device has good scaling behaviour which will not result in memory loss due to the event of power cuts. However, despite their unique features, the use of these non-biodegradable (inorganic) material leads to an increase in electronic waste, which is an environmental hazard. Therefore, there remains a need for developing environmentally friendly with comparative efficiency, therefore reducing electronic waste.

Type of Intellectual Property protection
Patent
Innovation Opportunity Type
Licensing
Industry
​Manufacturing
Mechanical Devices
Other manufacturing
Technology Readiness Level
TRL 4 – Experimental prototype developed