Magnet-Free Computer of the Future

Researchers at the Hebrew University and the Weizmann Institute of Science may take memory storage from the edge of impossible to the next level. The latest research from Israel closes in on the possibility of making a portable computer as small as a flash drive, as powerful as a mainframe, at a very reasonable cost, using few power resources.

Led by Prof. Yossi Paltiel from the Hebrew University’s School of Engineering and Computer Science, the scientists have found a way to eliminate the need for permanent magnets in memory devices.

Their new approach, magnet-less spin memory (MSM), could be the watchword for computer engineers of the future. Memory devices such as hard drives, flash drives and RAM are the core of our computers, phones, cars and electronic appliances. Paltiel explains. “Our research is to pave the way for universal memory—memory that is uncompromisingly small, fast, very cheap and has near unlimited potential. A flash drive as a computer? It’s theoretically possible. That’s what we are dreaming about,” he says.

Prof. Yossi Paltiel Paltiel and his associates can magnetize at a tiny, quantum scale—without actual magnets—by influencing the spin flow of electrons to create a current that transfers memory to nano-sized particles. “We haven’t closed any deals yet, but the technology holds a lot of promise,” says Paltiel, explaining that the process must still be fine-tuned.

The research is already drawing international interest for its commercial potential and is currently being developed for commercialization by the tech transfer companies Yissum and Yeda, of the Hebrew University and the Weizmann Institute, respectively.

After a significant investment is made in the basic research, Paltiel assumes that it could take two years to demonstrate the technology has commercial potential and several years more for it to become available.