Engineers Develop New Magnetic Comp. Memory

UCLA engineers develop new energy-efficient computer memory using magnetic materials

MeRAM is up to 1,000 times more energy-efficient than current technologies

By using electric voltage instead of a flowing electric current, researchers from UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have made major improvements to an ultra-fast, high-capacity class of computer memory known as magnetoresistive random access memory, or MRAM.

The UCLA team's improved memory, which they call MeRAM for magnetoelectric random access memory, has great potential to be used in future memory chips for almost all electronic applications, including smart-phones, tablets, computers and microprocessors, as well as for data storage, like the solid-state disks used in computers and large data centers.

MeRAM's key advantage over existing technologies is that it combines extraordinary low energy with very high density, high-speed reading and writing times, and non-volatility — the ability to retain data when no power is applied, similar to hard disk drives and flash memory sticks, but MeRAM is much faster.

So not only is it non-volatile, but also very fast & allows for ultra high density storage.

"Ultra-low–power spintronic devices such as this one have potential implications beyond the memory industry," Wang said. They can enable new instant-on electronic systems, where memory is integrated with logic and computing, thereby completely eliminating standby power and greatly enhancing their functionality."

The advances in computing being made are flowing in steadily & showing promise.

reply to post by Raelsatu


Seeing as how memory may be approaching the atomic limit one day, I wonder how Ultra-dense this really is.

Good find though, instant on devices are something that could save this country millions in electricity. ATS please remember NOT to use sleep modes and turn your computers off at night!

reply to post by Raelsatu


Leaps and bounds.

Fast and energy efficient looks good to me! I love to see these kind of advances in technology.

What is the law about computer processing speed and how it doubles every couple years. Great find op.

reply to post by Grimpachi


Well there's Moore's Law, which deals in the doubling of the number of transistors on a chip every two years. But there's other 'laws' that deal with cores, cycles per second etc. This technology deals with memory, but I'm not exactly sure if/what law applies.

Combining this memory advance with IBM's new electronic-photonic integrated chip (nanophotonics) technology --- which is thousands of times faster than current copper/optical networks --- will bring a big boost to computer efficiency, capacity & speed. This is not even including new advances with future processor materials such as graphene, carbon nanotubes, etc. Quantum computing. The next 10 years are going to yield computer power boost like we haven't seen. A lot of doors are going to be opened.

Extremely good find, and interesting news. Your grip on the field is also helpful, and helps us realize the extent of the new computer technologies and how fast they will all be incorporated into our machines. Thanks for the thread!

Originally posted by Attentionwandered
reply to post by Raelsatu

 

Seeing as how memory may be approaching the atomic limit one day, I wonder how Ultra-dense this really is.

Good find though, instant on devices are something that could save this country millions in electricity. ATS please remember NOT to use sleep modes and turn your computers off at night!

I'm pretty sure I don't use "sleep modes" whatever they are. But, why would anyone want to turn their computers off at night? That's when all the good stuff happens.

reply to post by Aleister


Thank you for the post. =] I'm glad you're interested in computing technology; actually it's become of my favorite things to keep updated on, research-wise. The known & unknown applications for the future have me anticipating and reveling in every new step made.

Am I the only one who gets angry when they announce an amazing breakthrough but don't give number