Off to the races

In two papers published in the April 11 issue of Science, IBM Fellow Stuart Parkin (pictured) and colleagues at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose describe both the fundamentals of a technology dubbed ‘racetrack’ memory as well as a milestone in that technology. This milestone could lead to electronic devices capable of storing far more data in the same amount of space than is possible today, with ‘lightning fast’ boot times, far lower cost and unprecedented stability and durability. According to the researchers, racetrack – so named because the data ‘races’ around the wire ‘track’ – could lead to devices capable of holding far more data than is possible today. An example given by IBM is a handheld device such as an MP3 player capable of storing around 500,000 songs or around 3500 movies – 100 times more than is possible today – with far lower cost and power consumption. It adds the devices would not only store vastly more information in the same space, but also require much less power and generate much less heat. The result, it claims, would be massive amounts of personal storage that could run on a single battery for weeks at a time and last for decades. “It has been an exciting adventure to have been involved with research into metal spintronics since its inception almost 20 years ago with our work on spin valve structures,” said Dr Parkin. “The combination of extraordinarily interesting physics and spintronic materials engineering, one atomic layer at a time, continues to be highly challenging and very rewarding. The promise of racetrack memory – for example, the ability to carry massive amounts of information in your pocket – could unleash creativity leading to devices and applications that nobody has imagined yet.”