Academics working with carbon nanotubes have developed a low-power memory technology with application for smartphones, cameras, and other consumer gadgets.

The "mechanical arm" storage technology, developed by scientists at Edinburgh University, Seoul National University, and Konkuk University in South Korea, uses a tiny cantilevered arm to deliver charge to gate electrodes in storage devices.

"We've come up with a new way to do the [electrode] charging that consumes very little power," researcher Eleanor Campbell, who worked on the technology in Edinburgh's chemistry department, told ZDNet UK today. "We have a very little cantilevered arm, which is charged by attaching to a voltage source, and we charge the gate electrode by moving the arm down."

Read more at "Scots academics build mechanical arm for fast memory" at ZDNet UK.