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Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and University of Colorado Boulder (CU) developed a new chip that uses microfluidics and magnetic switches to trap and transport magnetic beads. This low-power device may be useful for medical devices. This technology may also lead us towards "MRAM" chips used for molecular and cellular manipulation.

In the past, magnetic particle transport chips required continuous power and even cooling. This new technology manages to overcome the power and heat issues, and offers random-access two-dimensional control and non-volatile memory. The prototype chip uses 12 spin valves (commonly used as magnetic sensors in HD read heads) which are optimized for magnetic trapping. Pulses of electric current are used to switch individual spin valve magnets “on” to trap a bead, or “off” to release it, and thereby move the bead down a ladder formed by the two lines. The beads start out suspended in salt water above the valves before being trapped in the array.

Here's a nice short video interview with Phillip LoPresti, Everspin's CEO, talking about MRAM, Everspin and current applications (including the BMW super-bike). Phillip says that Everspin shipped over 1.5 million chips to date, and they hope to triple or even quadruple this number in 2011 alone:

Here's a nice short interview with Everspin's CEO, explaining about the company, their current MRAM products and future STT-MRAM technology:

Here's a nice introduction-to-spintronics video from the Tanaka Laboratory at the University of Tokyo. They explain what is Spintronics, and how it can be applied to memory devices - including MRAM of course - and information processing with low power consumption:

Osaka's university has a Spintronics research group that is working towards MRAM and STT-RAM using several materials including Graphene. Here's a nice intro video about the group: