Researchers Move Closer To New Class of Memory

IBM scientists unveiled a major breakthrough in their effort to build a new class of memory, nicknamed "racetrack." A diagram of the nanowire shows how an electric current is used to slide -- or "race" – tiny magnetic patterns around the nanowire "track," where the device can read and write data in less than a nanosecond. The racetrack memory would stand billions of nanowires, like the one diagrammed here, around the edge of a chip, and potentially allow for hundreds of times the amount of storage in the same space as today's memory. The expected benefits of racetrack memory over today’s memory technologies include operating at a greater speed, consuming much less power, and being practically indestructible, potentially unleashing applications that nobody has even imagined yet. Credit: IBM