IBM Research Determines Atomic Limits of Magnetic Memory
IBM scientists are the first-ever to demonstrate engineered atomic-scale structures that store information magnetically at low temperatures. The magnetic memory bit used in the demonstration is the world’s smallest at only 12 atoms. The experimental atomic-scale magnet memory when compared to today’s hard disk drives and solid state memory chips is at least 100 times denser. It took 30 years of nanotechnology research by scientists at IBM Research to reach this milestone. It will be interesting to see how this technology further develops.
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. Were 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.
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