Wiregate: Metallic picket fence flips magnetic bits
By Peter Weiss
Computers typically use magnetism to store data, not to process it. A team of researchers in England is challenging that convention with a magnetic microcircuit that carries out simple but important steps in computation.
This all-magnetic computing could offer numerous advantages over conventional electronics, says team leader Russell P. Cowburn of the University of Durham. Those potential benefits include lower manufacturing costs, decreased power consumption, and retention of data when the power goes off. The most likely first applications for such circuits would be in cell phones, smart cards, and other portable gizmos, Cowburn predicts.