April 2010

Researches design new frequency-controlled magnetic vortex memory

Researchers have designed a new kind of magnetic memory called frequency-controlled magnetic vortex memory. It takes advantage of magnetic vortices' ability to store binary information as positive or negative core polarities, which can be controlled by simply changing the frequency of the rotating vortex cores of the nanodots.

The concept of using magnetic nano-objects to store information for magnetic-RAM is already known, but it’s been difficult to find a mechanism to reverse the magnetization inside individual nano-objects. The researchers achieved this reversal by using microwave pulses in combination with a static magnetic field. In this scheme, large and small rotating core frequencies are associated with positive and negative core polarities, respectively. In a positive core polarity, the core is parallel to the applied magnetic field, while in a negative core polarity, the core is antiparallel to the applied magnetic field. An extremely sensitive magnetic resonance force microscope (MRFM) is used to address the resonant frequency of magnetic nanodots’ vortex core rotations, allowing the researchers to control the polarity states of individual nanodots.

Read the full story Posted: Apr 22,2010

Everspin introduces new 16 Mbit MRAM chips

Everspin has announced a new MRAM chip (MR4A16B) with 16-megabit (Mb) density. Samples are available now, and mass-production will begin in July 2010. There are two options for the chips: commercial chips and industrial chips (that have a larger temperature range: -40°C to +85°C). Everspin also promises to continue and deliver MRAM at increasingly higher densities.

Everspin MR4A16B

Everspin MR4A16B

This is the first time since the MRAM chips were introduced by Freescale in 2006 that they announce higher-density chips.

Read the full story Posted: Apr 18,2010