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New Speed Record For Magnetic Memory

Posted by timothy on from the think-fast dept.

Iddo Genuth writes "An experiment performed at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Germany has uncovered that a spin-torque switching of a nanomagnet is as fast as what is permitted according to the fundamental laws of physics' limit. This method of switching, also named ballistic switching, could allow for increased speeds in future non-volatile magnetic memories."

26 comments

  1. Oh, FFS. by gandhi_2 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Just when we were hoping for faster SSD's.

    Next you'll be telling us that new improvements in tape mean non-sequential access, and RW speeds 5x faster than current NAND.

    Call me when punch cards support DRM.

    --
    THL phish sticks
    1. Re:Oh, FFS. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      TFA says that this is MRAM which is basically like DDR/SDRAM except that it uses magnatism rather than capacitors/NAND latches to store the data.

      This means nonvolatile RAM (Passwords/private key offline scraping FTW) or it could actually be used in SSDs if it is significantly faster/cheaper than flash chips.

    2. Re:Oh, FFS. by Enter+the+Shoggoth · · Score: 1

      actually, I read an article about nano-punch cards that could store like 800 GB per square inch. They said making 0 impacts or 1 smooth areas would be simple even down to like 10 nm apart. I really hope we don't see that ever.

      Why not? If it's cheaper then magnetic or capacitive techniques... bring it on.

      --
      Andy Warhol got it right / Everybody gets the limelight
      Andy Warhol got it wrong / Fifteen minutes is too long.
    3. Re:Oh, FFS. by adrianwn · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, it's more like a replacement for the "DRAM"-part in "(DDR-)SDRAM": "DRAM" describes the underlying memory technology, while "synchronous" describes the interface method (the results are returned on the edges of the clock signal). So the product will probably be called "SMRAM" or "DDR-SMRAM".

    4. Re:Oh, FFS. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      The problem appears when you plan to erase something, and you have to cover the holes with tape...

    5. Re:Oh, FFS. by omfgnosis · · Score: 3, Funny

      But it won't be able to compete with DDR-SMARM.

    6. Re:Oh, FFS. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you mean the problem appears when you realize how much it costs to build and operate a clean room just so you can load DNF from a single punch card.

    7. Re:Oh, FFS. by RichiH · · Score: 1

      *ring* *ring*

    8. Re:Oh, FFS. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you have to cover the holes with tape...

      you have to cover the holes with nano-tape.

      there, fixed that for ya! :)

  2. Neat... by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 0

    But I can't help but wonder how much of a difference will make for most of us.

    1. Re:Neat... by Fourier404 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's what they said about transistors.

    2. Re:Neat... by PunkOfLinux · · Score: 1

      Insightful.
      This could be interesting... or not. It depends on application.

      --
      Show this to your friends and family that don't know what a real hacker is
    3. Re:Neat... by flnca · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Indeed, that's what they said about transistors. Even in the early 80ies, we learnt in school that tubes were the non plus ultra and that transistors had an uncertain future!! A few years later, tube production was stopped everywhere.

    4. Re:Neat... by krog · · Score: 1

      Early 80's? Where'd you go to school, Tomsk?

      --
      Cretin - a powerful and flexible CD reencoder
    5. Re:Neat... by kesuki · · Score: 2, Informative

      the music industry was still highly reliant upon tubes to this date, there are still suppliers of tubes for use in the music industry, even though CDs are all digital. some artists insist that the use of tubes changes the way audio sounds before it's sampled by the digitizer... and of course, there are those who still release music on vinyl.

      --
      https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
  3. Can we have some specifics? by isBandGeek() · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How fast is "as fast as permitted according to the fundamental laws of physics' limit"?

    1. Re:Can we have some specifics? by Fluffeh · · Score: 4, Informative
      RTFA :)

      By using the ballistic spin torque reversal, potential MRAMs could be programmed by current pulses quicker than 1 nanosecond and subsequently, achieving write clock rates well above 1 GHz. Thus, high-density and non-volatile memory executing at the clock rates of the fastest volatile memories were enabled.

      --
      Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
    2. Re:Can we have some specifics? by mr_mischief · · Score: 1

      Welcome back, core memory, it's been a long time!

    3. Re:Can we have some specifics? by LeadSongDog · · Score: 1
      Tunneling through the press releases, we find:

      Quasi-ballistic spin torque magnetization reversal S. Serrano-Guisan, K. Rott, G. Reiss, J. Langer, B. Ocker, and H. W. Schumacher Physical Review Letters 33 (2008)

      Then a trip to scholar finds:

      http://arxiv.org/pdf/0804.4840

      Biased quasi ballistic spin torque magnetization reversal S. Serrano-Guisan, K. Rott, G. Reiss, J. Langer, B. Ocker and H. W. Schumacher

      --
      Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
    4. Re:Can we have some specifics? by LeadSongDog · · Score: 1

      Apparently it's half of one precession time....

      --
      Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
  4. you know whats better? being able to buy it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    oh wow! thats amazing! why, i think ill go right on down to my local computer store and purchase a extra magnetic memory chip for my computer!

    1. Re:you know whats better? being able to buy it... by The+Master+Control+P · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, I bet your father said that when Intel produced their first 1024x1 ram chip. Pff... fuckin pie in the sky that was, integrated circuit RAM. They sure wasted their time; It never did become widely available at a decent price, as I recall.

      Woops, gotta go. Sense amplifier on my core is drifting out of alignment.

  5. Ballistic switching? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is that related to percussive storage?

    1. Re:Ballistic switching? by fbjon · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ballistic switching? Is that related to percussive storage?

      Is that what they call fisticuffs these days? I do agree that too much input makes my face sore.

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
  6. Core memory returns! by againjj · · Score: 1

    And I thought it was dead dead dead.