The future of computing
Dr Stuart Parkin, an international authority on the techniques most likely to transform information technology in the future delivered a public lecture at the AINSE Theatre on 25 February 25 2010 (read original invite and abstract here).
Distinguished lecturer, Dr Stuart Parkin
The lecture, which formed part of ANSTO's Distinguished Lecture series, focused on the ways in which computers may be able to deliver supersonic speeds.
Dr Parkin also spoke about a fascinating US Government-funded project known as 'Brain in a Box' where IBM scientists are looking to emulate the characteristics of the brain by creating neuro-morphic electronics synapses.
Few people are in a better position to talk about computers of the future than Dr Parkin who manages the Magneto-electronics group at the IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, California. He is also a Consulting Professor in the Department of Applied Physics at Stanford University.
Dr Parkin told the audience that all the memory we currently use in micro-electronics stems from two dimensional structures and the laws of physics are dictating that we will need to take a leap into three dimensional structures to take the next fundamental improvements. Specifically, the technology being pursued by IBM is spintronix or 'racetrack memory'.
"Racetrack memory is superior to all existing forms of memory," said Dr Parkin. "It could displace flash memory and hard disk drives and has the potential to have 10 to 100 times more storage capacity than conventional solid state memory."
Racetrack memory uses electric current to move the magnetic domains along a nanoscopic wire about 200nm (around 2/10,000ths of a millimetre) and 100nm thick. The domains pass by magnetic heads positioned near the wire, which alter the domains to record patterns of bits.
On the Brain in a Box project, Dr Parkin said that IBM had already achieved the first brain simulation to exceed the scale of a cat's brain cortex in a simulation involving one billion spiking neurons and 10 trillion individual learning synapses.
The ANSTO Distinguished Lecture series is an ongoing event, drawing on the ideas and knowledge of international experts. Members of the public are welcome, and the event is advertised on the ANSTO website.
Posted: 26 February, 2010