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Magnetic Computing Takes a Step Forward 112

Posted by CowboyNeal from the stuck-together dept.
MaceyHW writes "PhysOrg.com reports a big step forward in the development of magnetic microchips. Since their initial creation of a magnetic logic gate in 2002, an international team of researchers from Durham University, Imperial College, London and the University of Sheffield 'team has created a number of further "logic gates" and created interconnecting structures using magnetic "nanowires," which can now reproduce the logic functions of a conventional computer.'"
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Magnetic Computing Takes a Step Forward More

Magnetic Computing Takes a Step Forward

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  • Magnetic Computing? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    You mean like the kind of magnetic computing that's easily destroyed by a fridge magnet or unshielded set of speakers?

    Is this really a move forward?
    • I guess that's why the article suggests applications in "disposable" computing. I don't really have a problem with this - it's much the same as saying paper is easily destroyed by a glass of water or red wine. You just know to keep things in the right environment.
    • Or the kind that doesn't require power to hold the processor in one state but only power when its changing states.
    • They're talking about using the electron's spin [slashdot.org] instead of its charge. It's the philosopher's stone for computing.

      Yeah, I agree, the physorg article is hideous. But if what it says is true, then spintronics research has taken a gigantic step.

  • But who needs magnets... (Score:4, Funny)

    by ettlz ( 639203 ) on Friday September 30, 2005 @06:54AM (#13683310) Journal
    ..when we've already got a laptop powered by a 6,8 GHz quantum optical processor with 1 TB of NvlOpRAM?

  • Hmm,... (Score:4, Funny)

    by xgadflyx ( 828530 ) <james.montgomery ... m ['ail' in gap]> on Friday September 30, 2005 @06:55AM (#13683314) Homepage Journal
    Does this mean we'll eventually have computers we can stick to the fridge?

  • 'Clock' speeds (Score:4, Funny)

    by Linker3000 ( 626634 ) on Friday September 30, 2005 @06:57AM (#13683321) Journal
    I didn't see anything in the article about clocking speeds (if, indeed this type of technology is clocked - I guess so?) - any ideas?

    I'll have to find that old bubble core magnetic memory I stuck up in the attic some years ago - it might come in useful!
    • It doesnt matter if its clocked or not, you can implement synchronous or asynchronous components using the same technology.
    • I must be one confused old geezer, because I remember (eletro)magnetic core memory, and I also remember Intel's (serial access) bubble memory, but I sure don't remember old bubble core magnetic memory.

      The (electro)magnetic core memory was used in my (old) college digital computer lab, along with the toggle switch input and lamp (by register) output.

      Intel's (serial access) bubble memory was bloody slow and way too expensive for anything other than spacecraft. I may even have Intel's data books on that stuf

  • In other news (Score:3, Funny)

    by ReformedExCon ( 897248 ) <reformed.excon@gmail.com> on Friday September 30, 2005 @06:58AM (#13683323)
    Scientist at the Cave of Ogg have discovered that wood may be able to be used a source of fire. Following hot on the heels of their previous breakthroughs with the ignition of fire, Ogg and Gor have discovered that fire is held in a solid state in certain types of wood. By transferring an existing fire to a piece of wood is said to "unlock" the fire within the wood and set it ablaze. Ogg's spokesman said that study will continue to find the exact amount of fire held within the various types of wood available near the Cave.

    Seriously? Magnets?
    • I'm not quite sure where you seem to be going with this rant. Are you trying to dismiss the research out of hand, or just implying that this was the next logical step from the previous development?

    • Re:In other news (Score:3, Insightful)

      by smithmc ( 451373 ) *

        Seriously? Magnets?

      What do you mean, "seriously"? Why is the idea of using positive and negative magnetic potentials to represent information any stranger than the idea of using positive and negative electrical potentials?

  • Why better? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ottffssent ( 18387 ) * on Friday September 30, 2005 @06:59AM (#13683328)
    The article sort of mumbled through why I should care. Does anyone know? Do these logic gates offer the promise of smaller, faster, cheaper, or lower-power CPUs? Some combination of the above? Do they allow the creation of computers of a type not practical before? Where's the beef?

    • Re:Why better? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by megla ( 859600 )
      Doesn't the prospect of a more efficent computer count then?
      If this scales to a useful level, you'd need much less power to run such a processor as it wouldn't all be being burnt off as heat - so your mobile phone could last much longer on a single charge, etc etc.
      Sounds like reason enough to at least give the technology a chance to me...
    • Why does it need a use?

      It's interesting in its own right, even if it doesn't lead to anything pragmatic.

    • More info is available on the earlier research (Score:5, Informative)

      by N Monkey ( 313423 ) on Friday September 30, 2005 @07:44AM (#13683508)
      The article sort of mumbled

      Yes, it was rather vague. A quick search with google turned up a more detailed report [reed-electronics.com] on their earlier work:( I used "bug me not" to login to read it :-) )

      Just to give the flavour of this report, it states...

      "Physicists at the University of Durham (Durham, UK) have fabricated a magnetic NOT gate that can operate at room temperature. It is the first wholly magnetic logic device to be formed on a microchip, and offers a key to what could become a completely new micro- and nano-magnetic chip technology.

      The Durham NOT gate consists of a track of a naturally ferromagnetic alloy shaped like an inverted "Y." The magnetism of this ferromagnetic alloy tends to run parallel to its track length and points in one of two opposite directions. A single ferromagnetic track can contain different regions, each magnetized in one of these two directions. Where these opposite magnetizations meet, a transition region or "domain wall" is formed in which the..."

    • Re:Why better? (Score:5, Informative)

      by ramblin billy ( 856838 ) <defaultaddy@yahoo.com> on Friday September 30, 2005 @08:58AM (#13684010)

      How about 100 GB of storage capacity for the cost of a memory card [zdnet.com]? Magnetic microchips used in cell phones could make them fully functional video cameras. In addition, the chips are non-volatile [wikipedia.org], so startup lag will become a not-so-fond memory. They use much less power than electronic chips. They can be made much smaller, possibly as small as a few atoms. The examples they have already fabricated "use no silicon and require no multilayer processing and so can be manufactured at very low cost on flexible substrates, while offering non-volatility, radiation hardness and several hundreds of MHz of bandwidth" [imperial.ac.uk]. They're talking about plastic chips. Pretty impressive.

      The technology, which is still being developed, can be classified as "nanotech" and is called "magnetic domain-wall logic" [eetimes.com] and is based on spintronics [iop.org]. Lots of folks are working on this because many believe that spintronics will allow for great advances in areas from quantum computing to DNA based [physicsweb.org] molecular electronic devices. This particular development is important because it represents the first [unisci.com] actual construction of logic gates, which are the basis of computing. So far the group has produced a "NOT gate" and a "11-stage serial shift register / digital frequency divider" in a 200nm design rule. They have also demonstrated the transfer of magnetic information without the use of magnetic fields. This paves the way for hybrid chips with both electronic and spintronic components. Such "3D chips" could contain many times the amount of information possible with current electronic chips. They will run cooler, with short "nanowire" pathways, and have the potential to surpass the performance of silicon chips. Moore's Law marches on.

      billy - wonder if the "$100 laptop" guys have their phone number?
      • They're talking about plastic chips. Pretty impressive.

        Until the oil runs out. D'oh!
      • After reading the Wikipedia article on MRAM [wikipedia.org] I'm getting the idea that the author thinks it will slice bread also.

        There is no mention as to what the hurtles have been in the technology, and how sensitive it will be to external magnetic fields or any negatives about the technology (and *every* technology has drawbacks).

        Anyone albe to play a knowledgeable devil's advocate for MRAM?
    • Even if it is much slower than electron-based computing, it should be immune to ionizing radiation, such as cosmic rays.

  • I can always dream... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 30, 2005 @07:04AM (#13683344)
    It would be nice if we had magnetic disks. North or South corresponds to 0 or 1.

  • Disposable features? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by torchdragon ( 816357 ) on Friday September 30, 2005 @07:04AM (#13683347) Homepage
    "This would also imply that the computers being economical would become still more disposable. 'This means that they could be used for cheap and therefore disposable simple computers in the future.'"

    Why is this a feature? We've already shown ourselves how wonderful "displosable" technology really is. Why do we think we need more useless broken garbage? How reclaimable is it? Can we just throw a bunch of these into a pot, separate the various metals and cook up new ones when the technology improves? Disposable != Economical. You have to have an economy before you can throw it in the garbage.
    • Displosable? What? Is this some new fiendish Chinese technology?
    • Dude, if you took projected growth of garbage, then doubled it. You could put all our garbage into a 300 mile cube, and you would only be half full at the end of 1000 years.

      yeah, thats a big cube, but the world is a big place.

      The added advantage is you wouldn't have to deal the the waste products and energy waste of recycling.

  • Yeah, and here (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 30, 2005 @07:05AM (#13683349)
    ... is the picture [wikimedia.org] !
    • That is hillarious.
    • Note, this PC may be slightly heavier than the average laptop, but it is just as portable. It is self contained in a Tractor Trailer... Hello did we take one huge step back here? Lets all go get our peter built out of the garage and hook onto one of these magnetic drive tractor trailer pc's. Good job now I can sing 18 wheels a turnin as i check my email.

  • Goodbye Transistors.... (Score:4, Funny)

    by cheezemonkhai ( 638797 ) on Friday September 30, 2005 @07:07AM (#13683354) Homepage
    Hello Core Memory...

    Seriously core memory was magnetic and was first thing I thought of when I read the headline.
  • In what way is this an international team? All three universities are in the same country.
    • All three Universities have lots of foreign exchange students working on the teams?
      • I used to work on the team... They were all based in Durham, but then split between various universities for various reasons. But when in Durham we had... 1 Chinese Postdoc 2 French Postdocs 2 British Postdocs 1 Irish PhD student 2 British PhD students 1 Slovenian PhD student 1 British Professor + most of the funding comes from a company in Dubai.

  • Yellow warning sticker! (Score:3, Funny)

    by jurt1235 ( 834677 ) on Friday September 30, 2005 @07:15AM (#13683384) Homepage
    Warning: Do not place any creditcards on top or close of this device. The card might get damaged!

  • I'm guessing... (Score:4, Funny)

    by wootest ( 694923 ) on Friday September 30, 2005 @07:18AM (#13683391)
    I'm guessing one of those computers won't have floppy drives.

  • Two Questions: (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Comatose51 ( 687974 ) on Friday September 30, 2005 @07:22AM (#13683401) Homepage
    1. Anyone know how high they can scale in terms of speed in the near future?

    2. It seems like magneticism is somewhat harder to contain than electricity, even though they're the same thing. What I mean is that we heard about leakage in processors as we get smaller and smaller dies. How is interference from other units controlled/mitigated in these chips?

    I am definitely NOT a physicists so these question might sound lame but this is the first time I've heard of these chips and the article don't say much. Maybe I'm getting way ahead right now. New computational technology is always very cool, which I hope these chips are in the literal sense as well.


    • Leakage should not be a problem. We're talking extremely small magnetic domains here -- nothing of the size that would extend outside the case packaging.

  • RAM erasure (Score:1, Insightful)

    by diztort ( 910437 )
    Hmmmm, what if it is used to close to a harddrive, instant formats? Maybe we need those kind of fields soon to replace our magnetic earth field that shields us from the raging solar storms.... And if our magnetic field switches someday all zero's become one's and all one's become zero's, eat your heart out millenium bug!
    • If everything got reversed, would it really matter?
      • For what you're suggesting to work, you'd have to reverse time itself aswell. However, having done so you'd instantly return to the reversal point, ultimately having achieved nothing.
        Interesting thought experiemnt, not impossible, but completely unobservable to the degree that it doesn't even qualify as a virtual phenomena. Lunatics with razors would stab it to death shouting "Occam! Occam!", failing to see the simple charm of the idea on its own.
    • really strong ones. Find an unneeded hard and take it apart.
  • I for one welcome our new Magnetic Overlords! The day of their coming shall be signaled by The Day Of The Great Field Inversion when our Evil Bird Overlords shall fall from the sky in confusion. SO IT IS WRITTEN!
    • Goser? Is that you? The last time I saw you, you were tearing up a Midtown highrise in the form of a giant StayPuff marshmellow man!
    • I for one welcome our new Magnetic Overlords! The day of their coming shall be signaled by The Day Of The Great Field Inversion when our Evil Bird Overlords shall fall from the sky in confusion.

      And they will rule over all domains.
  • I was wondering about this whole electro-magnetic relationship and cell phones. I've already proven to my IT department that I can shut down my |)ell computer by calling my LG phone(GSM)that rests on top of my computer. I wonder what the EMR from the same phone would do to a magnetic based logic......

    %ltbest yoda hum hrrrrmmmmm....

  • Well now... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 30, 2005 @07:27AM (#13683425)
    I have, erm, sources connected to this story.

    Basically, don't expect miracles. The signals can travel incredibly fast through these devices (can't remember exact figures) but there are problems. The signals are driven by an external magnetic field. Single magnetic pulse can drive high speed data transmission, but not normally operation of the circuit. Continuous operation would likely be in the 10s of kHZ to 1s of MHz range.

    The main uses are in low power, low demand devices. Or in systems which need to be resistant to EM radiation (certain military interest there).

    Similarities to core memory? Basically that's MRAM. And chips of MRAM up to about several hundred kb can now be mass produced.

    But as for "they have made a computer" - we're not talking Pentiums. We're talking about having demonstrated the functions which compose such chips - NOT, AND, OR and signal combination and splitting. Nothing more.

    • Similarities to core memory? Basically that's MRAM. And chips of MRAM up to about several hundred kb can now be mass produced.

      That's good. Who needs more than 640k?

  • Damage? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Would storing these processors boxed and next to each other, stacked and so on... cause damage to them? what about other components? Any type of foil shield that would prevent this?

    Just a thought
    • Simple answer, no. They're not that magnetic.
    • foil is for electric field shielding (an occasionally plane wave shielding). If you want to block magnetic fields you need a magnetic material.

      There is a really good referance book that deals with this advanced stuff: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/084 9 320879/qid=1128098404/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl 14/104-6945549-8695159?v=glance&s=books&n=507846. It covers everything you'd ever want to know and more (it weighs about 6lbs. and has close to 4000 pages)

  • Does anyone know which companies are slated or working to develop this technology commercially?

    • Re:Development (Score:2, Informative)

      by secondexpress ( 919152 )
      Much of the funding has come from Eastgate, a Venture Capital firm based in Dubai. I think the IP rights are shared between them and the university, but Eastgate won't develop the idea. Rather, they'll look for people who are willing to.

  • Honey, please turn off the computer! (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I need to get the keys to the car on the computer.

  • Yay! Disposable! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by chihowa ( 366380 ) on Friday September 30, 2005 @08:02AM (#13683610)
    Bringing us ever closer to a world full of disposable junk!
  • Non-heating CPU's! That's excellent. Nice to hear it.
  • So, magnetic logic gates? Great.

    What about power? I seem to recall that one of the problems with magnetic microprocessors is that when you shut off the power, you lose your data...

    Not mentioned in TFA.

    On the plus side, no heat generation = no fans = much less noise.

    But, we know this research is cutting edge and inherently valuable, because:
    "This use of magnetism, rather than that of electricity has potential of being exploited further .The team is working in the rapidly growing field of nanotechn
    • So, magnetic logic gates? Great.
      What about power? I seem to recall that one of the problems with magnetic microprocessors is that when you shut off the power, you lose your data...
      Not mentioned in TFA.
      What the heck? What happens then when you power down a conventional microprocessor? The whole point of magnetic is that you DON'T lose data (look up Core Memory).
      • "'What about power? I seem to recall that one of the problems with magnetic microprocessors is that when you shut off the power, you lose your data...
        Not mentioned in TFA. '
        What the heck? What happens then when you power down a conventional microprocessor? The whole point of magnetic is that you DON'T lose data (look up Core Memory)."

        Damn... I knew I should have had my coffee before even thinking about posting...

  • Not too practical (Score:3, Informative)

    by Eukariote ( 881204 ) on Friday September 30, 2005 @08:14AM (#13683685)

    The method referenced is called "magnetic domain-wall logic". It works by propagating domain walls in small ferromagnetic wires. They have demonstrated various logic elements. Unfortunately, the domain-wall propagation is powered by immersing the circuit into a rotating or alternating magnetic field. This requires bulky external coils, rotating the IC itself inside a permanent magnet, or rotating a permanent magnet around the IC.

    In the demonstrations, field frequency is measured in the tens of Hertz. I could not find a reference to the propagation velocity, but one wire width per cycle would be a reasonable guess. In short, horribly slow.

  • This technology seems to me to open as many unique exciting possibilities as when semiconductor technology first emerged. First of all, if you actually RTFA, these microchips generate no heat, which also suggests that they are very low power. Remember, not every microchip in the world today is your over clocked dual core Athlon 64, but rather are useful things like stepper motor controllers and what not. The fact is, this may allow an alternative method to make some of the thousands of silicon based compone
    • The circuits are pretty much unaffected by most external magnetic fields. The problem with them is actually producing a field which a) is strong enough to affect them and b) can change fast enough to actually do useful data processing. The 200nm wide wires used (some down to 120nm) can only support one magnetic domain across them, so you can't 'corrupt' a single bit other than by flipping it. And the field required to flip it would need to be really strong - probably hundreds of Oersteds. That's why the l
    • First of all, if you actually RTFA, these microchips generate no heat, which also suggests that they are very low power.

      Well if I recall correctly, the all permanetly magnetic materials do posess a property called hysteresis which acts like a resistance to change in the magnetic strength and direction of a ferromagnetic material. If you switch the magnetic moment of such a domain in a ferromagnetic material enough times, heat will be generated. It is possible that is is less than for electronic gates, b

  • Like in the 60s? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    In the 60s, people explored all SORTS of whacko physics to try to find better switching elements. Logic using ferrite cores is nothing new. I'm not talking memory here, but Boolean functions done by windings on a core. Hell, Voyager and Pioneer are full of 'em.


    If it's magnetic logic on an IC, that's something new, yes. The basic idea, is not.

  • This comment is as useless as the article. It gives nothing of true relevance. Kinda reminds me of that character in Monkey Island who wanted "something that will atract attention, but have no real importance".

    Now to be in the real spirit of Slashdot, mod me insightfull.
    • Kinda reminds me of that character in Monkey Island who wanted "something that will atract attention, but have no real importance". Now to be in the real spirit of Slashdot, mod me insightfull.

      You not only cited Monkey Island, but in doing so referred obliquely to the legendary Rubber Chicken With A Pulley In The Middle. You're going to get modded into orbit.

  • in any way like mini electromagnetic relays like in the earliest
    computers?

    I don't think I understood the article fully. Can anyone simplify
    differently?
  • Turn in on then duck to avoid the barrage of low flying paperclips & staples flying towards you.
  • http://scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?chanID=s a006&colID=1&articleID=0002CE79-C967-12DB-88228341 4B7F0000 [scientificamerican.com]
    The article talks about a type of harware based on magnetism that allows the hardware to be reprogrammed.

    Another interesting point about this new type of hardware is that it does not need a clock.
  • I found a related paper:

    http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/~peter/publications/N OT.pdf [mcgill.ca]

    All the original papers from the group mentioned in the article are too pricey.
    Unfortunately I can't make neither heads nor tails out of this, somebody care to explain?

    Have fun!

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