The tuyau de poële--A new decoding and memory element

The tuyau de poële, or stove pipe, is a new magnetic element giving a high output flux for a low driving current. The use of this element in a decoding switch is described. A new fabrication process was developed which uses electrodeposited gold conductors and Permalloy elements. This allows low-cost large arrays of such magnetic elements. Individual elements show good squareness (94 percent) and a high flux for a low switching current. A decoding switch with 32 elements was built. Use of this technology may open new areas for integrated micromagnetics.