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PV-Geek
The practicality of any new technology like this will come down to how do design ...
Sanjib.Acharya
So, storing "100 times more information in the same space" is applicable in low ...
IBM reports on atomic magnetic memory
Julien Happich
1/13/2012 10:43 AM EST
Scientists from IBM Research have demonstrated the ability to store information in as few as 12 magnetic atoms. This is significantly less than today's disk drives, which use about one million atoms to store a single bit of information.
While silicon transistor technology has become cheaper, denser and more efficient, fundamental physical limitations suggest this path of conventional scaling is unsustainable. Alternative approaches are needed to continue the rapid pace of computing innovation. By taking a novel approach and beginning at the smallest unit of data storage, the atom, scientists demonstrated magnetic storage that is at least 100 times denser than today’s hard disk drives and solid state memory chips. Future applications of nanostructures built one atom at a time, and that apply an unconventional form of magnetism called antiferromagnetism, could allow people and businesses to store 100 times more information in the same space.
“The chip industry will continue its pursuit of incremental scaling in semiconductor technology but, as components continue to shrink, the march continues to the inevitable end point: the atom. We’re taking the opposite approach and starting with the smallest unit -- single atoms -- to build computing devices one atom at a time.” said Andreas Heinrich, the lead investigator into atomic storage at IBM Research – Almaden, in California.
Scanning tunneling microscope image shows a group of 12 iron atoms forming magnetic memory bit. Source: IBM
The scientists at IBM Research used a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to atomically engineer a grouping of twelve antiferromagnetically coupled atoms that stored a bit of data for hours at low temperatures. Taking advantage of their inherent alternating magnetic spin directions, they demonstrated the ability to pack adjacent magnetic bits much closer together than was previously possible. This greatly increased the magnetic storage density without disrupting the state of neighboring bits.
This article was first posted by EE Times Europe, a sister publication to EE Times.
Related links and articles:
More information and a video at www.ibm.com/atomicscalememory
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Nic_Mokhoff
1/13/2012 2:02 PM EST
The research gem of the semiconductor industry keeps forging ahead to lead electronics into a new era on the microscopic level. There should be more research done cooperatively for the sake of getting to end goals faster. There are many surprises awaiting in the bottom-up approach for building nano devices and searching for those gems will be easier if more scientists and engineers pool their resources.
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Luis Sanchez
1/13/2012 4:27 PM EST
What interesting work is done at the Almaden research center!
Together with the Higgs particle news I think this years have been very important for physics and in this particular, for the semiconductor industry.
Looks like we're preparing for when we hit the Moores curve end however, even an atom is limited in size... I wonder what would be next after that? I wonder where will information be stored once it no longer fits our universe? will it be stored in parallel dimensions (string theory)?
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daleste
1/13/2012 11:24 PM EST
This is really cool research. I'm sure there will be plenty of challenges as they move from research to product development, but they will enjoy every minute. Thanks for letting us in to see what is going on.
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seaEE
1/14/2012 12:18 AM EST
Definitely neat. Maybe we'll find out that Moore's law, like Newton's law, is just an approximation to a more complex law. ;)
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DrQuine
1/14/2012 10:14 AM EST
Moore's Law isn't a law, it is a performance challenge - like the 4 minute (running) mile. Because computing devices are so ubiquitous in our world, there is a great economic incentive to continue shrinking physical dimensions and improving performance. That determination results in unexpected breakthroughs and new ways of looking at old solutions which continue the innovation. After the physical limits within devices are met, will the Internet cloud be utilized to continue shrinking devices and increasing their performance?
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resistion
1/16/2012 7:43 AM EST
A colleague forwarded me more details; this was done at low temp. At room temp, they actually need more than 100 atoms.
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Sanjib.Acharya
1/22/2012 11:31 AM EST
So, storing "100 times more information in the same space" is applicable in low temperature only? Takes the same space as the conventional storage in room temperature?
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pixies
1/16/2012 6:02 PM EST
It is hard to believe a laptop hard drive can contain an STM array with such a precision. What I heard is that the whole purpose of this group at Almaden is to showcase how cool IBM is. None of their previous work, such as writing "IBM" using gold atoms on silicon, has turned into real world product.
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PV-Geek
2/11/2012 5:28 PM EST
The practicality of any new technology like this will come down to how do design and manufacture it in volume production. But you have to keep pushing the envelope many years in advance to give time for the practical issues to work themselves out.
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