As reported by Technology Review, "You end up with something that looks like a bunch of skyscrapers," says Don Barnetson, director of market development for nonvolatile memory products at Nanosys. These skyscrapers electrically interact with each other in undesirable ways that can make the chip unreliable. Flash-memory cells hold electrons, which represent bits of data, on a small piece of polysilicon called a floating gate. The floating gate is surrounded by a thick layer of insulating material that keeps the electrons from leaking out. But as the cells shrink, they begin to electrically interfere with each other. By replacing the floating gate with nanocrystals, explains Barnetson, engineers can reduce the amount of insulating material needed and shorten the cells, eliminating the interference.