IBM today detailed Racetrack memory which holds the potential to revolutionize computer memory. The Racetrack memory is a new technology design which stands to improve memory capabilities within mobile phones, laptop computers and business-class servers. This new class of memory could enable devices to store much more information – as much as a factor of 100 times greater – while using much less energy than today’s designs.

Highlights:

* IBM Research is the first to measure the movement and processing of digital data as a magnetic pattern on nanowires 1,000 times finer than a human hair.
* New memory uses the spin of electrons to move data at hundreds of miles per hour to atomically precise positions along the nanowire racetrack.
* This memory could someday enable a single portable device to store all the movies produced worldwide in a given year and run on a single battery for weeks at a time.

The Racetrack memory project flips the current memory paradigm on its head. Instead of making computers seek out the data it needs – as is the case in traditional computing systems – IBM’s Racetrack memory automatically moves data to where it can be used, sliding magnetic bits back and forth along nanowire “racetracks.” This technique would allow electronic manufacturers to design a portable device capable of storing all the movies produced worldwide in a given year with room to spare.

Digital data is typically stored in magnetic hard disk drives, which are low-cost but slow due to their moving parts, or in solid state memory such as Flash memory, which are faster but more expensive. Racetrack memory aims to combine the best attributes of these two types of devices by storing data as magnetic regions – also called domains – in racetracks just a few tens of nanometers wide.

Learn more about Racetrack memory here.