Magnetic logic advances

Magnetic memory chips, which retain data after the power is turned off, are becoming available and could eventually supplement or even replace disk drives in computers. Several research teams are looking to take this technology beyond simply storing data by using it in computer chips that process data.

Researchers from the University of Notre Dame and the Technical University of Munich in Germany have taken a step toward magnetic logic chips with a prototype device that carries out the basic binary logic operations necessary for computing. The device uses nanoscale magnets in a quantum dot cellular automata architecture that was previously developed at Notre Dame.

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