R&D projects based on such techniques as carbon nanotubes, molecular electronics and atomic force microscope probe arrays appear to be converging on the ideal of a universal high-density, high-capacity, nonvolatile, low-power read/write memory technology.

Candidate technologies include Millipede (using arrays of cantilevered atomic-force microscope tips to read tiny indentations in a plastic membrane), spintronics-magnetic RAM (MRAM), nanotubes, and self-assembled porphyrin molecular films.