bubble memory
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Related to bubble memory: core memory, Racetrack memory
bubble memory
[′bəb·əl ¦mem·rē] (computer science)
A computer memory in which the presence or absence of a magnetic bubble in a localized region of a thin magnetic film designates a 1 or 0; storage capacity can be well over 1 megabit per cubic inch. Also known as magnetic bubble memory.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
bubble memory
A storage device built using materials such as gadolinium
gallium garnet which are can be magnetised easily in only one
direction. A film of these materials can be created so that
it is magnetisable in an up-down direction. The magnetic
fields tend to join together, some with the north pole facing
up, some with the south.
When a veritcal magnetic field is imposed on this, the areas in opposite alignment to the field shrink to circles, or 'bubbles'. A bubble can be formed by reversing the field in a small spot, and can be destroyed by increasing the field.
Bubble memory is a kind of non-volatile storage but EEPROM, Flash Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory and ferroelectric technologies, which are also non-volatile, are faster.
["Great Microprocessors of the Past and Present", V 4.0.0, John Bayko <bayko@hercules.cs.uregina.ca>, Appendix C]
When a veritcal magnetic field is imposed on this, the areas in opposite alignment to the field shrink to circles, or 'bubbles'. A bubble can be formed by reversing the field in a small spot, and can be destroyed by increasing the field.
Bubble memory is a kind of non-volatile storage but EEPROM, Flash Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory and ferroelectric technologies, which are also non-volatile, are faster.
["Great Microprocessors of the Past and Present", V 4.0.0, John Bayko <bayko@hercules.cs.uregina.ca>, Appendix C]
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