Researchers on track for ’racetrack memory’ breakthrough

New research from the Universities of Glasgow and Leeds could be an important step towards creating faster, higher-capacity, lower-power data storage. In a new paper published in the journal Nature , researchers discuss their work examining an important property of a developing form of data storage known as 'racetrack memory'. Unlike conventional hard disks, which read data from a magnetized spinning disc, racetrack memory uses lines of stationary magnetic nanowires. Electricity passed through the wires moves 'domain walls' - the points in the wires where the magnetisation changes direction, where information can be stored. The properties of racetrack memory make it an ideal candidate to become the fast, dense, low-power data storage format of the future. One key question still under investigation by researchers working on racetrack memory is the types of materials which will create the most robust data storage system, capable of storing and moving information quickly and efficiently. The team from Glasgow and Leeds used sophisticated electron microscopy to look at the structure of thin films deposited by sputtering from platinum, cobalt and aluminium oxide.