MAGNETORESISTIVE/HCTS MEMORY CELL FOR SUPERCOMPUTER MASS MEMORY

THIS RESEARCH WILL SHOW FEASIBILITY FOR A NEW MEMORY CELL USING MAGNETIC FILMS AND HIGH CRITICAL TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS (HCTS) WHICH IS PARTICULARLY SUITABLE FOR SUPERCOMPUTER MASS MEMORIES. MAGNETORESISTIVE RANDOM ACCESSMEMORY (MRAM) TECHNOLOGY HAS PROJECTED DENSITIES IN EXCESS OF 10(8) BITS/CM(2), BUT AT THESE HIGH DENSITIES READ ACCESSTIMES ARE LIMITED TO ABOUT 10US. WITH THIS PROPOSED MEMORY CELL, SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIOS ARE IMPROVED BY A FACTOR OF ABOUT 30 WHICH WOULD DECREASE ACCESS TIMES TO ABOUT 10NS. THIS NOVEL MEMORY CELL COULD ALSO OFFER A SUBSTANTIAL RANDOMACCESS MEMORY SYSTEM COST REDUCTION. SUPERCOMPUTER PERFORMANCE IS INCREASINGLY DOMINATED BY THE PERFORMANCE OF THE MEMORY HIERARCHY, PARTICULARLY ACCESS TIME OF DISC MEMORY. THE OVERHEAD COST FOR INSTALLING AND MAINTAINING A LIQUID NITROGEN COOLING SYSTEM WOULD BE A SMALL COST FOR IMPROVED SUPERCOMPUTER PERFORMANCE USING THISNEW MEMORY SCHEME. SUCCESSFUL DEMONSTRATION OF THIS CONCEPTCOULD REVOLUTIONIZE SUPERCOMPUTING, AND AS NITROGEN COOLING BECOMES LESS EXPENSIVE, COULD SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACT MAINFRAME COMPUTERS AND WORK STATIONS.