IBM development: the spin of the electrons will help create huge memories

This is a 100-fold increase in the amount of stored data. The new memory could allow a mobile unit to organize all the films that will be produced in the world in one year

IBM scientists investigating new architectures in the field of memory components in devices such as mobile phones, laptops and computer servers reported a scientific-research breakthrough and revealed a new storage method that is expected to increase 100 times the amount of data stored in the devices in which it is integrated, while using a significantly lower amount of energy.

IBM scientists presented for the first time a method for measuring movement and processing digital information stored on thin wires that are one-thousandth of the thickness of a human head hair.

The scientists revealed for the first time the existence of "partition walls" that define data areas in memory components - a discovery that makes it possible to compress a larger amount of data into smaller components than ever before. The new memory storage method makes use of the spin phenomenon of electrons, in order to flow data to its exact location, on the "racetrack" managed on nanowires. The actual implementation of this technology will make it possible, for example, to store all the films produced in a certain year - on a single mobile device, which will operate for consecutive weeks with the help of a single battery.

For six years, IBM scientists have been working to realize the idea of ​​a new type of memory. Instead of asking the computer to search for the data it needs, as is common in today's familiar computer systems, IBM's "racetrack" memory knows how to automatically transfer the data to the place intended to use it, while sliding magnetic bits forward or backward along the "racetrack" on the electric wire the tiny

The breakthrough reported by IBM scientists in the new issue of the scientific journal Science concerns the possibility of measuring the time and distance of acceleration processes of internal domain walls, and controlling the level of acceleration or deceleration of these walls in response to an encounter with a current pulse, which is used to transfer and process information. This technology allows scientists not only to understand the mechanism of tuning and to control the magnetic movements within the storage device, but also to promote the transformation of the vision of race track memory technology into reality.

Digital data is currently stored in two main methods: Data storage is currently carried out in one of two ways: flash memory, on chips or cards, which are integrated in cell phones, music players and digital cameras - or a magnetic disk integrated in various types of computers.

The rapid rate of development in these two technological branches does not change the price ratio: the price of storing each bit on a magnetic disk is about the same as the price of storing that bit in volatile memory. Against the advantages of the price of the hard disk are its disadvantages: a slower pace, and a large number of moving parts that create problems with the level of mechanical reliability that do not exist in volatile memory technology.

Volatile memory, for its part, is significantly slower in the process of writing data compared to the higher reading speed, and is characterized by a limited lifespan: the number of write-read cycles possible on such a memory chip is finite and limited, and currently stands at only a few thousand: each write to this memory creates a change A tiny bit of the electrical nature of the component - which gradually accumulates until it wears out.

IBM's "race track" memory combines the positive characteristics of these two types of storage, by storing data as magnetic areas - also called "domains", on a track that is only a few tenths of a nanometer wide.

In order to build a memory as fast as possible and as dense as possible, the "walls of the compound", which separate the storage segments, must move along the track automatically at a speed of hundreds of kilometers per hour, and with maximum precision. The researchers were surprised by the time frame for such a movement, which is reduced to a few tenths of a nanosecond, and the distance of the movement measured in micrometers, because previous experiments in the field did not indicate acceleration or deceleration in the movement of the walls of the compound along the track. Now, it has become clear that the movement of the walls of the compound does not proceed at peak speed immediately upon the transfer of the current, and that the rate of acceleration in movement is exactly the same as the rate of its deceleration when the current is stopped. This discovery was not possible until now, because it was not clear whether the walls of the compound have mass - which, as mentioned, causes the acceleration effect to be equal to the deceleration effect. Now, the researchers know how to place the walls of the compound precisely along the track, by changing the length of the electric pulse.

For nearly fifty years, scientists have been investigating the possibility of storing information within magnetic complexes, while buffering between separate magnetic areas that each receive a bit of information. Until now, the control and manipulation of compound walls has been an expensive, complex, and wasteful matter of electricity. Two years ago, IBM scientists provided the first proof of feasibility for the possibility of achieving such control - which also demonstrated the future potential of racetrack memory, utilizing the phenomenon of electron spin.

The details of IBM's research were published, as mentioned, in the latest edition of the scientific journal Science, in an article entitled "Dynamics of magnetic enclosure walls under their internal contents".

IBM's development may pave the way for storing larger amounts of data in a given volume, enjoy extremely fast boot times, lower production costs and ensure unprecedented reliability and stability.

to IBM's announcement