Within a few years, almost every electronic device will contain memory based on a new generation of technology. All over the world, scientists and engineers are searching for a technology that can be improved over multiple generations, applied to many types of electronic and memory devices.

According to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, memory chips in 2006 had 1.79 gigabits per square centimeter. This new work reaches 100 gigabits per square centimeter, a density that the Roadmap forecasts chips won't reach until sometime after 2020.