AI 中文总结
该研究通过随机热力学模型分析DRAM单元，发现电荷离散性与热能的比值κ越大，信息擦除能量效率越高，κ是控制此类存储电路基本效率上限的关键参数。
AI 中文摘要
动态随机存取存储（DRAM）单元以电容器上的电子整数数量存储信息，这种离散性是否具有热力学相关性取决于充电能量与热涨落之间的竞争。该竞争由单电子充电能量与热能的比值κ量化，本文研究κ如何影响DRAM单元中信息擦除的能量效率。采用DRAM单元的随机热力学模型，我们表明：放电阶段释放的非准静态热量随κ增大而被抑制，而充电阶段的准静态热量趋近于兰道尔成本。因此，能量效率随κ单调递增，当电荷离散性效应最大时趋近于兰道尔极限，此时单元有效简化为两个电荷态。参数κ因此连接两种热力学机制：多能级单阱存储器（其非平衡初始状态阻碍准静态擦除）和可达到兰道尔极限的有效两能级存储器。这些结果确定κ是控制晶体管-电容器存储电路基本效率上限的参数。
英文摘要
A dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) cell stores information as an integer number of electrons on a capacitor, and whether this discreteness is thermodynamically relevant depends on the competition between the charging energy and thermal fluctuations. This competition is quantified by the ratio $κ$ of the single-electron charging energy to the thermal energy, and here we investigate how $κ$ affects the energy efficiency of information erasure in a DRAM cell. Using a stochastic-thermodynamic model of a DRAM cell, we show that the nonquasistatic heat released during the discharge step is suppressed as $κ$ increases, whereas the quasistatic heat of the charge step approaches the Landauer cost. As a result, the energy efficiency increases monotonically with $κ$ and approaches the Landauer limit where the effect of charge discreteness is maximal and the cell is effectively reduced to two charge states. The parameter $κ$ thus connects two thermodynamic regimes: a multilevel single-well memory, whose nonequilibrium initial state prevents quasistatic erasure, and an effective two-level memory that can attain the Landauer limit. These results identify $κ$ as the parameter that controls the fundamental efficiency ceiling of transistor--capacitor memory circuits.
Comments7 pages, 6 figures
