Plated-wire memories: How far can we go?

High-speed plated-wire memory designs are now capable of 75-ns read cycles and 150-ns write cycles. Future improvement is expected. New fabrication techniques are expected to employ magnetic keepers and eliminate tunnels. Small-diameter wire will also be used. A density of up to 5000 bits per square inch is predicted. Comparisons with semiconductor memory technology are made to support the position that plated-wire memories will remain less expensive than semiconductors above module sizes in the 40 000-60 000-bit range.