Modeling and analysis of biological cells in DRAM implementation

• Main Authors: Fan, Jeffrey, Guofen Yu, Jichang Tan, Tan, Sheldon X.-D.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological cells; Biological system modeling; Biomembranes; Capacitors; Cells (biology); Electrons; Frequency; Plasma properties; Random access memory; Voltage
• ISSN: 2160-3804; 2160-3812
• DOI: 10.1109/BMAS.2007.4437531

In this paper, we propose a novel technique in modeling and analysis of biological cells to implement DRAM storage elements in the post-CMOS era. The motivation is based on the known characteristics of biological cells. By applying an electric pulse with a fixed duration, we may calculate the voltage across the cytoplasmic membrane, also called a cell membrane or plasma membrane, and the nuclear membrane within biological cells. The induced voltage across the membranes may function like a capacitor does in a DRAM storage element. The electron charge accumulated on a membrane is also leaky, similar to the traditional DRAM. The electron charge and discharge time constants for cytoplasmic and nuclear membranes can be fine-tuned through careful selection of different sizes and types of biological cells. Experimental results by simulation show that about 75 percents (75%) of the applied voltage is distributed across the cytoplasmic membrane. Hence, cytoplasmic membrane is more suitable in the application of DRAM implementation. This means that when applying 0.9 V - 1 V of voltage across a biological cell, roughly 0.7 V - 0.75 V of the voltage is induced across the cytoplasmic membrane. The electron charge and discharge time can be achieved within 100 ns for certain size and type of biological cells. The required DRAM refresh frequency is therefore approximately 10 MHz for such biological cells.