Applications of plated wire to the military and space environments

Plated wire is steadily emerging as the preferred storage element for military and space memory applications. Not only are cost and performance improvements extending the regions of application, but reliability conscious military and space programs are adopting this type of memory. This is evidenced by the advent of hardened plated-wire memories for Poseidon and Minuteman missile programs. A prime reason for the attractiveness of plated wire for these applications is its ideal property of true nondestructive readout (NDRO) operation, in which the stored word is retained in the storage medium during all portions of the read cycle. This is made possible by the production of a uniaxial anisotropic closed-flux magnetic film during the plating process.