Magnetoresistive Technologies Attract
a Growing Audience
- First computer-memory components designed based
on giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect.
- GMR computer memory chips now being commercialized
will hold data even when power is off.
- Spin-off GMR sensors reduce the size and costs of
traffic-monitoring and other systems.
Major advances in the design, performance, and producibility of innovative magnetic
technology have led to a growing array of practical applications, which are already saving
money and providing new capabilities in a variety of industries and may soon change the
way computers operate. A small Minnesota company, Nonvolatile Electronics, Inc., (NVE),
used co-funding from NIST’s Advanced Technology Program (ATP) to develop new
materials, designs, and techniques for making devices based on the giant magnetoresistance
(GMR) effect. GMR devices (sandwiches of very thin layers of magnetic and nonmagnetic
materials) exhibit an unusually large change in electrical resistance in the presence of a
magnetic field. NVE made its own GMR materials as part of the effort to develop civilian
applications for a magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM) chip originally made by
Honeywell, Inc., for defense uses. In the 3-year ATP project, which ended in 1994, NVE
achieved technical advances that helped reduce the size of MRAM chips by at least 50
percent, increased speed ninefold, and enhanced yield sufficiently to make
commercialization feasible. The company designed and demonstrated the first prototype GMR
computer memory “cells” (components of integrated circuits, or chips).
The success of the ATP project attracted the attention of Motorola, Inc., and others,
which are working with NVE to commercialize GMR memory chips. Production may begin at
early as 1999 for the MRAM chips, which will retain data even when the power is off and
enhance data access. The technology could eventually capture a sizeable share of the $45
billion market for memory and hard-disk-drive products. NVE has built a $500,000 business
in standard and customized GMR sensors, which can detect, among other things, disruptions
in the Earth’s magnetic field and magnetic particles in ink. The company says its
sensors outperform competing devices in terms of size, power consumption, temperature
stability, sensitivity, and range of operation. The sensors are already used in
vehicle-counting systems along Pennsylvania highways and the U.S.-Canadian border and
“smart” shock absorbers for high-performance mountain bikes. Other emerging
applications include devices for detecting anti-personnel mines and other buried weapons,
antilock brakes for cars, counterfeit-detection systems, food processing, factory
production lines, and electric locks for safes.
ATP funding: $1,738,000
Non-ATP funding: $869,000
For more
information
January 1999
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