IBM has successfully created a magnetic memory bit of a mere 12 atoms in size, whereas the standard disc drive needs roughly a million atoms per bit. The caveat is that it must reside at the very low temperature of 10 Kelvin. The full study has been published in the journal Science. According to an interview by Reuters, a room temperature version is theoretically possible at 150 atoms.
Is this the end of Moore's Law? Can we even find a practical means to get to this design?
What do you think?...
CPUs continue to get faster and more energy efficient. Even now when the frequency race as over, by means of multiple cores.
Memory systems and magnetic storage are not evolving anywhere near that pace. Neither in performance nor energy efficiency.
SSD drives are a great step in the right direction, and I really hope the mentioned IBM research would lead to a real product.
Posted by: Teodor Milkov | January 29, 2012 at 09:15 AM