Magnetic memory' chip unveiled
- Thread starter TinderBox (UK)
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scott.cr
Flashlight Enthusiast
I seem to remember reading an article about "MRAM" back in 1997 or so. Back then it was still an over-the-horizon project being worked on by IBM.
For some reason the article reminded me of the $449 I spent on an 1GB Microdrive for my digial camera in 2001. I think the 4GB versions go for like $179 now.
For some reason the article reminded me of the $449 I spent on an 1GB Microdrive for my digial camera in 2001. I think the 4GB versions go for like $179 now.
Steve K
Flashlight Enthusiast
pretty slick.
Too bad they didn't offer details about how a memory cell works. Does it still use tiny magnetic domains to store data? If so, what is the means of addressing each little domain? What is the read/write mechanism? ...???...
Reading about this makes me think back to the early non-volatile memory known as core memory. Lots and lots of tiny magnetic donuts, woven onto a zillion little wires that are used to write and sense the direction of magnetization of each of the little donuts. The stuff I've seen was used on the flight computers on military jets (it handled power transients very nicely, and was rad-hard too). A marvel of anachronistic technology!
Steve K.
Too bad they didn't offer details about how a memory cell works. Does it still use tiny magnetic domains to store data? If so, what is the means of addressing each little domain? What is the read/write mechanism? ...???...
Reading about this makes me think back to the early non-volatile memory known as core memory. Lots and lots of tiny magnetic donuts, woven onto a zillion little wires that are used to write and sense the direction of magnetization of each of the little donuts. The stuff I've seen was used on the flight computers on military jets (it handled power transients very nicely, and was rad-hard too). A marvel of anachronistic technology!
Steve K.
The question is one of desnity (enough MB per unit) and cost per unit. Freescale might just have it close to market, though. Being into embedded CPUs and SoCs, they could directly benefit from it.
Chances are it won't be useful for PCs for a long time (I could be wrong, but I'd bet it's too slow), but for slower devices, it could rock. Flash is very slow compared to HDDs, and has problems concerning writes (all kinds have limited writes, and if not used conservatively, they can be worn out).
Chances are it won't be useful for PCs for a long time (I could be wrong, but I'd bet it's too slow), but for slower devices, it could rock. Flash is very slow compared to HDDs, and has problems concerning writes (all kinds have limited writes, and if not used conservatively, they can be worn out).
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