Ferrite memory - definition
Ferrite memory - definition
Ferrite memory is a type of non-volatile operational memory used in computers in the second half of the 20th century, in which information was stored in the form of magnetisation cores made of ferromagnetic material - ferrite. These elements were in the form of small rings through which wires were drawn to allow data to be written and read based on electromagnetic phenomena. Each core represented one bit of information, depending on the direction of magnetisation.
Writing to Ferrite Cores involved creating a current pulse in the respective wires, which caused a change in the magnetic state of the respective core. Reading was destructive - requiring a pulse to be inserted that reset the current state of the core, followed by a rewrite if the bit was set. The readout information was generated in the readout wire based on the induced voltage resulting from the change in magnetic flux.
Ferrite memory was characterised by high noise immunity, high durability and reliability, even under industrial or military conditions. It also had the advantage of being able to store data for long periods without power, which distinguished it from today's dynamic RAM. On the other hand, the disadvantages were the relatively high production cost and limited storage density, due to the physical size of the Ferrite Cores and the complexity of interleaving them with wires.
This technology was superseded in the 1970s by solid-state memory chips, which offered higher capacity, smaller size and higher speed. Nevertheless, ferrite memory has played a key role in the history of computer development, being widely used in systems such as the IBM System/360, as well as onboard computers used in space missions, e.g. the Apollo programme.
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