US boffin builds ultra-dense nanodot memory A US scientist has developed a way to store binary data on dots 6nm in size - possibly leading to a one-square-inch chip holding 2TB of data. Jay Narayan is a materials science and engineering professor at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and works with nanodots, which are single crystals free of any defect. In a NCSU …
"""Every time I see a headline about a newer, smaller storage device that can hold god awful amounts of data, I can only think: which train is it going to be left on?
There's a reason why large amounts of data should be stored in an inconveniently large manner."""
Just pile as many of these things as you can into a standard 3.5" drive (2.5 for laptops, etc.)
Or take one of these little deals and wrap it in loads of plastic. Problem solved. Higher density storage is /always/ a good thing.
While lasers of less than 6nm (such as an X-ray) are already available (if not quite practical for this application yet), does the wavelength really matter, or the abilty to focus the point of the laser to <6nm?
EVERY wavelength has a point where its focus is 0nm; Once every length of the wavelength as a matter of fact. The problem is that as you near that point, the power of the laser edges closer to 0... so a <6nm laser (somewhere between ultraviolet [10^-8] and x-ray [10^-10] - http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us&q=nanometer&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=) *would* be most beneficial as that means the full power of the laser could be used, instead of attempting to focus it to a point where the wavelength starts to peter out, probably in some sort of standing wave.
It may be more economical to use an electron generator (like the old Triac flip/flop tubes), as that would easily be <6nm (as used on electron microscopes). Then, as always, its just down to a convenient power supply.
Or find a clever way to ensure the photons behave as particles, which would be more towards the 10^-10 size, no matter the wavelength...
The laser is 2foot square and requires 1tw of electric.
Pointless invention for everyday use to say the least. It is great the data is in such a small 2 dimensional area of 1square inch, but the laser size, alignment and movement might present a little problem dont you think! We wont be seeing this anytime this century.
Look up confocal near field microscopy.
However I'm not sure if it could do wavelength/50 (300 micrometers is in the UV but sources and detectors do exist for it) imaging. You can bet the sensor will be *lots* bigger than raw bit.
The bottom line with *all* these clever technologies is this. You either have a *shared* readout device which spreads the cost of mfg across *all* the bits it reads (like a hard drive read head) using a simple to fabricate storage structure and some precision mechanical stuff and a fair bit of electronics (like a hard drive) *most* of which is pretty straightforward (and relatively cheap) *or* you have a lot more sensors shared across a lot fewer bits like the sens amplifiers/ row of
with *no* mechanical motion but a *much* more complex fabrication and alignment sequence (with corresponding differences in unit price and size).
I recall when people were saying magnetic bubble memories would kill hard drives. Faster, higher density, no moving parts.
Didn't quite happen that way.
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