A new type of computer memory that has for years been touted as the future of data storage has finally been demonstrated. Researchers at IBM have finally constructed the first 鈥渞acetrack鈥� memory device.
Racetrack memory was dreamed up and patented by Stuart Parkin, one of IBM鈥檚 chief researchers, more than four years ago.
His calculations suggest it could provide faster, cheaper and higher capacity storage than RAM or hard disk storage. But the technique at its core had until now not been demonstrated.
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Today鈥檚 technologies are each hamstrung in different ways: RAM is fast but expensive, and hard drives are slow but cheap. Racetrack memory, says Parkin, will be both fast and cheap.
The bits 鈥� 1s and 0s 鈥� of data in racetrack memory are stored in the tiny magnetic domains of a very thin U-shaped wire. A magnetic field is used to write data to the domains. Pulsing current through the wire pushes those domains along the track, past sensors that can read off the data.
First device
But until now, Parkin and others had done no more than show that magnetic domains can be made to move along a wire. No one had succeeded in writing and reading information stored in the domains.
and colleagues in Parkin鈥檚 lab have now successfully built and operated just such a device. The first ever racetrack memory device is able to store and read three bits of data using the racetrack method.
This is a first 鈥� and an important one 鈥� says Guido Meier of the University of Hamburg, who researches spin effects for memory devices.
Third dimension
Del Atkinson of the University of Durham, a researcher in , agrees.
鈥淯p to this point, one of the outstanding issues for such a proposed memory has been whether multiple domain walls can be moved together by a current and maintain their integrity,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his new research is the first demonstration that this process works.鈥�
While the three-bit device may seem far from applicable to today鈥檚 computers, IBM has a track record in developing successful new technologies from humble beginnings, Atkinson adds.
Parkin now plans to develop a chip in which thousands of U-shaped racetracks operate together, in deep, 3D arrays. 鈥淲e really need to think of intelligent ways of using the third dimension in memory technologies,鈥� he told New 杏吧原创.
Building memory chips in three dimensions should make it possible to pack more data into a smaller space, he explains. Today鈥檚 computer chips are built from 2D components.
鈥淩acetrack memory is truly three-dimensional in concept,鈥� Parkin adds.
Journal reference: Science (DOI: )
