Towards a new generation of data storage materials

Towards a new generation of data storage materials

Faced with the explosion in data consumption, the University of Montpellier sees the need to revolutionize data storage with new molecular ferroelectric materials. Materials capable of storing information in electrical form, and offering a faster, more energy-efficient alternative to current technologies. This was achieved with the creation and development of the MISTRAL project, bringing together a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from Montpellier's Charles Gerhardt Institute (ICGM), Bordeaux's Institute of Condensed Matter Chemistry (ICMB), the Materials, Microelectronics, Acoustics and Nanotechnologies Laboratory (GREMAN, Tours) and the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) to develop innovative materials.Funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR) as part of the PEPR DIADEM (dispositifs intégrés pour l'accélération du déploiement de matériaux émergents) program, this 800,000 euro project will be coordinated by the University of Montpellier.

Promising materials to meet the challenge of data storage

The growing demand for data storage is putting current technologies to the test. Ferroelectric materials offer a promising solution, combining speed and low energy consumption. However, metal oxides, the most widely studied, often incorporate critical metals, raising issues of sustainability and supply. The MISTRAL project stands out for its approach based on assemblies of molecular building blocks. This approach makes it possible to "design" materials with optimized properties. Among other things, the project will use high-throughput synthesis to efficiently screen synthesis conditions, accelerating the discovery of new molecular ferroelectric materials with optimized properties.

The project will focus on molecular materials that are purely organic (metal-free) or incorporate non-critical elements such as zinc, iron, magnesium or calcium. Shaped into thin films, these materials will be optimized for future device integration.

New properties?

MISTRAL will also explore coupling with other properties such as magnetism, paving the way for applications in multi-level data storage and spintronics (a recent discipline that exploits a magnetic and quantum property of the electron called "spin"). The project will also develop characterization techniques specific to these molecular materials. These techniques will be complemented by theoretical calculations and an artificial intelligence approach to rationalize material properties and guide the synthesis of new systems. Beyond this, the concepts developed in the MISTRAL project can be extended to many other magnetic and/or optical molecular-based materials.

ANR support for cutting-edge research

ANR funding under the France 2030 program as part of the PEPR DIADEM program testifies to the importance and potential of the MISTRAL project. This support will enable UM researchers to carry out cutting-edge research and develop innovative materials that will contribute to France's competitiveness in the materials field. The PEPR DIADEM program is an exploratory program funded by France 2030 and piloted by CNRS and CEA.

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