Jun 14 2002
In the never ending quest for data storage capacity, IBM have revealed their latest discovery. Using Nanotechnology, they have created a material that has a data storage density of a trillion bits per square inch. This figure is twenty times that maximum capacity currently available on magnetic storage mediums.
The research project codenamed “Millipede” estimates that approximately 25,000 text book pages could be stored in an area the size of a postage stamp. The technology used to produce this result uses thousands of nano-sharp tips to make indentations into a thin plastic film. Each indentation represents an individual bit and is analogous to the old-style punch cards. The main difference is that 3 million bits can be stored in the same area required for a single punch hole and the new technology is rewritable.
The Millipede consist of a two dimensional array of V-shaped silicon cantilevers, 70 microns long and 0.5microns thick, with a tip less than 2 microns long. The current setup consists of a 3x3mm array with 1024 cantilevers, produced by silicon surface machining. Each tip is controlled by multiplexed electronics, while the storage medium is moved using electromagnetic actuators, allowing each tip to write in a storage field of 100microns.
The tips write and erase by heating a thin polymer nanometre thick coating on a silicon substrate. Tips are heated using a built in resistor to a temperature of around 400°C. The heat allows the tip to sink into the polymer and create an indentation. Reading is done in a similar method, but the tip is only heated to 300°C. When the tip falls into an indentation, it is cooled by improved heat transfer and a voltage change is registered.
While the current research uses 1024 tips in a 3x3mm space, work is underway to increase this to build a prototype capable of housing more than 4000 tips in an area 7x7mm. This would enable small formats like flash memory to be able to handle capacities normally reserved for high capacity data storage. Researchers envisage significant advances in the results they have already obtained, considering the nano-sized tips can effectively address individual atoms.
A further benefit to the technology is that it uses less power compared to magnetic or electronic data storage mediums. It has been found to have a similar power consumption to flash memory technology.
The technology is of specific interest to personal organisers (PDA’s) and mobile phones which currently have limited storage capacities, and increasing dependencies.
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