Racetrack Memory
  Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (11/16/2010) Bastien Confino

    Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne professor Mathias Klaui is
    working on a racetrack memory technology that could be 100,000 times
       faster and consume less power than current hard disks. Klaui's
      solution for a high-volume, ultra-rapid, nonvolatile read-write
     magnetic memory involves data recorded on magnetic tape that would
    be a nickel-iron nanowire, 1 million times smaller than the classic
     tape. Nothing would move mechanically, as the bits of information
     stored in the wire would be pushed around inside the tape using a
       spin-polarized current, which would reach the speed of several
     hundred meters per second in the process. Each bit of information
       would be clearly separated from the next by domain walls with
    magnetic vortices so that the data can be read reliably. Millions or
    even billions of nanowires could be embedded in a chip, which would
       provide enormous capacity on a shock-proof platform. Computers
     equipped with racetrack memory would be able to boot up instantly.
     Racetrack memory does not need to be powered every millionth of a
    second like RAM, so energy consumption could be reduced by nearly a
    factor of 300 while the memory is idle. A device could be ready for
                       market in five to seven years.