I worked with Monsanto Company R&D in St. Louis back in the early seventies as a lab technician on magnetic bubble memory. I knew what I had to do to produce the bubbles but didn’t get into a detailed explanation on the stability or the uses of bubble memory domains. We had a joke about the bubbles - They were the preferred memory device of the future and always will be. You brought back some happy memories of my R&D days before I moved into manufacturing of single crystal silicone. Thanks.
Excellent explanation. There is a prototype Japanese computer from the late 70s that uses bubble memory, called "BUBCOM80", literally "Bubble Computer" built by a very obscure company. It was the predecessor of a Fujitsu computer caller "Fujitsu FM-8". I used to have an FM-8 that i bought a few years ago and came with one bubble memory module, and I can confirm that such memory is really stable as that module still had files from the previous owner.
Interesting machine, it looks like ergonomics and aesthetics were not their primary concern. At the time, the reason we had such high hopes for the intel bubbles was their support and interface chips since those components made it child’s play to implement a bubble system. The guys that used earlier bubbles from Fujitsu and HP and others really had to know what they were doing so hats off to this designer.
I only heard a bit about the workings of bubble memory thanks to its use in the Bubble System arcade hardware, with Gradius even having a song specifically written for waiting for the memory to warm up after powering on; from what I've heard, that's supposed to help with reliable operation. It's quite an intriguing type of storage, being something that was meant to bridge the gap between mechanical magnetic storage and pure solid state storage that seemed more of a pipe dream at the time; if I understand it correctly, it's sort of a hybrid between the two...?
You bring up a very good point. We talk about the bubbles “moving” but nothing is actually moving in bubble memory. The magnet domains change location but (beyond, say, electrons) nothing physically moves since it is really just the magnetic dipole that is moving. So bubble memory is a true solid state device. It was thought to be a better solution than the other nonvolatile memory at the time and more robust than any memory, especially mechanical such as tape, and hard and soft magnetic disk, or drum.
This is not a charge device so there is no stored charge, net charge, or free electrons; no potential biases, gates, conduction or depletion zones, etc. Sorry but I don’t understand the comment.
Lloyd Share your question doesn’t make sense to me either. It is a magnetic system, not electronic. The garnet substrate is purely a mechanical substrate layer, the permalloy just 2-dimensional highly permeable thin film. The magnetic domains are constrained to the 2-dimensions What “chemistry” charge state are you talking about?
Thank you! I really liked the explanation. Also, the magnetic coffee domains are a technological marvel and I hope you get a Nobel prize for those.
I worked with Monsanto Company R&D in St. Louis back in the early seventies as a lab technician on magnetic bubble memory. I knew what I had to do to produce the bubbles but didn’t get into a detailed explanation on the stability or the uses of bubble memory domains. We had a joke about the bubbles - They were the preferred memory device of the future and always will be. You brought back some happy memories of my R&D days before I moved into manufacturing of single crystal silicone. Thanks.
In the 80s we had the exact same joke about gallium arsenide. The material of the future, and always will be.
Interesting stuff. The crossroads between pure electronics and the “almost physical” world of magnetic domains.
Beautifully explained!
Excellent explanation. There is a prototype Japanese computer from the late 70s that uses bubble memory, called "BUBCOM80", literally "Bubble Computer" built by a very obscure company. It was the predecessor of a Fujitsu computer caller "Fujitsu FM-8". I used to have an FM-8 that i bought a few years ago and came with one bubble memory module, and I can confirm that such memory is really stable as that module still had files from the previous owner.
Interesting machine, it looks like ergonomics and aesthetics were not their primary concern. At the time, the reason we had such high hopes for the intel bubbles was their support and interface chips since those components made it child’s play to implement a bubble system. The guys that used earlier bubbles from Fujitsu and HP and others really had to know what they were doing so hats off to this designer.
Explained very well!
Thanks for the feedback.
Great channel, keep it up!!
Keep up the good work its really useful especially for students like me :-)
Thank you, I will
I only heard a bit about the workings of bubble memory thanks to its use in the Bubble System arcade hardware, with Gradius even having a song specifically written for waiting for the memory to warm up after powering on; from what I've heard, that's supposed to help with reliable operation. It's quite an intriguing type of storage, being something that was meant to bridge the gap between mechanical magnetic storage and pure solid state storage that seemed more of a pipe dream at the time; if I understand it correctly, it's sort of a hybrid between the two...?
You bring up a very good point. We talk about the bubbles “moving” but nothing is actually moving in bubble memory. The magnet domains change location but (beyond, say, electrons) nothing physically moves since it is really just the magnetic dipole that is moving. So bubble memory is a true solid state device. It was thought to be a better solution than the other nonvolatile memory at the time and more robust than any memory, especially mechanical such as tape, and hard and soft magnetic disk, or drum.
Nice explanation... thank you sir
Well explained
Thank you !
ive been trying to understand what a GGGPEQ is for so long man
Merci
I understand the physics but the chemistry is hidden??
As in why is there a paramagnetic layer? It is simply deposited to a garnet substrate.
@@HelloWorldETX says nothing about it's charge state
This is not a charge device so there is no stored charge, net charge, or free electrons; no potential biases, gates, conduction or depletion zones, etc. Sorry but I don’t understand the comment.
@@HelloWorldETX yes the bloody substrate, obviously you don't understand
Lloyd Share
your question doesn’t make sense to me either. It is a magnetic system, not electronic. The garnet substrate is purely a mechanical substrate layer, the permalloy just 2-dimensional highly permeable thin film. The magnetic domains are constrained to the 2-dimensions
What “chemistry” charge state are you talking about?
Kinda like politics 😂