Scientists built a chip that works in temperatures hotter than lava

But that might change, as a team at the University of Southern California may have broken through the thermal ceiling. In a study published in Science, researchers developed a new memory chip that kept working reliably at 700 degrees Celsius. For reference, that’s hotter than molten lava. The device showed no signs of giving up. Seven hundred degrees was simply the limit of their testing equipment. “You may call it a revolution,” said Joshua Yang, the lead researcher on the project. “It is the best high-temperature memory ever demonstrated.” How did they pull this off ? The chip is built like a tiny sandwich. Tungsten on top, a thin ceramic layer in the middle, and graphene on the bottom. Each of these materials handles extreme heat well on its own, but the magic happens at the graphene layer.In a normal chip, heat pushes metal atoms through the ceramic layer until both sides connect, resulting in a short circuit. Graphene prevents that from happening. According to Yang, Graphene and Tungsten act as oil and water. Tungsten atoms that drift toward it simply cannot grip the surface and back away. Since there’s no anchor, the chip doesn’t short-circuit.