Every day, modern society creates more than a billion gigabytes of new data.
To store all this data, it is increasingly important that each single bit occupies as little space as possible. A team of scientists at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University managed to bring this reduction to the ultimate limit: they built a memory of 1 kilobyte (8,000 bits), where each bit is represented by the position of one single chlorine atom. “In theory, this storage density would allow all books ever created by humans to be written on a single post stamp”, says lead-scientist Sander Otte. They reached a storage density of 500 Terabits per square inch (Tbpsi), 500 times better than the best commercial hard disk currently available. His team reports on this memory in Nature Nanotechnology on Monday July 18.
Feynman
In 1959, physicist Richard Feynman challenged his colleagues to engineer the world at the smallest possible scale. In his famous lecture There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom, he speculated that if we had a platform allowing us to arrange individual atoms in an exact orderly pattern, it would be possible to store one piece of information per atom. To honor the visionary Feynman, Otte and his team now coded a section of Feynman’s lecture on an area 100 nanometers wide.
Sliding puzzle
The team used a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), in which a sharp needle probes the atoms of a surface, one by one. With these probes scientists cannot only see the atoms but they can also use them to push the atoms around. “You could compare it to a sliding puzzle”, Otte explains. “Every bit consists of two positions on a surface of copper atoms, and one chlorine atom that we can slide back and forth between these two positions. If the chlorine atom is in the top position, there is a hole beneath it — we call this a 1. If the hole is in the top position and the chlorine atom is therefore on the bottom, then the bit is a 0.” Because the chlorine atoms are surrounded by other chlorine atoms, except near the holes, they keep each other in place. That is why this method with holes is much more stable than methods with loose atoms and more suitable for data storage.
Codes
The researchers from Delft organized their memory in blocks of 8 bytes (64 bits). Each block has a marker, made of the same type of ‘holes’ as the raster of chlorine atoms. Inspired by the pixelated square barcodes (QR codes) often used to scan tickets for airplanes and concerts, these markers work like miniature QR codes that carry information about the precise location of the block on the copper layer. The code will also indicate if a block is damaged, for instance due to some local contaminant or an error in the surface. This allows the memory to be scaled up easily to very big sizes, even if the copper surface is not entirely perfect.
Datacenters
The new approach offers excellent prospects in terms of stability and scalability. Still, this type of memory should not be expected in datacenters soon. Otte: “In its current form the memory can operate only in very clean vacuum conditions and at liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K), so the actual storage of data on an atomic scale is still some way off. But through this achievement we have certainly come a big step closer”.
This research was made possible through support from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NOW/FOM). Scientists of the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) in Portugal performed calculations on the behavior of the chlorine atoms.
Learn more: Smallest hard disk to date writes information atom by atom
The Latest on: Data storage
[google_news title=”” keyword=”data storage” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Data storage
- Ooredoo announces partnership with DDN Storage to harness high-performance techon May 12, 2024 at 10:22 am
Ooredoo has begun a platinum partnership with Data Direct Networks (DDN Storage), one of the world’s largest private data storage companies and leading providers of ...
- Enterprises outsource data storage as complexity riseson May 10, 2024 at 1:30 pm
An overload of operations data, ongoing business growth and expanding web analytics are pushing data estates to their limit, according to a Forrester report.
- BIG creates 3D-printed data storage device to be sent to the Moonon May 10, 2024 at 12:29 pm
Danish architecture studio BIG and technology company Lonestar Data Holdings Inc have created a data storage device for the moon, where it is designed to rest indefinitely after arrival. The device, ...
- Four key impacts of AI on data storageon May 10, 2024 at 1:00 am
We look at the key impacts of AI on data storage, including I/O and possible bottlenecks, how I/O differs across training and inference, plus data management and compliance concerns.
- TerraMaster announce its latest 8-Bay 10Gbps 2+6 RAID Hybrid Storage Solution — D8 Hybridon May 9, 2024 at 9:30 pm
TerraMaster has just launched the newest D8 Hybrid, a 2+6 RAID hybrid storage solution with slots 1 and 2 supporting RAID 0/1/JBOD configurations, while slots ...
- Atlanta considers data center ban along Beltline, near transit stopson May 9, 2024 at 2:00 am
Atlanta City Council will consider whether to add data centers to the growing list of developments and businesses banned along the popular Beltline trail loop.
- Negotiating the evolving data storage landscapeon May 8, 2024 at 1:00 am
How Pure Storage can smooth the journey of keeping up with constant change. Elizabeth Coles . Wed 8 May 2024 // 08:00 UTC ...
- Panasas Is Now VDURA for AI and HPC Data Storageon May 7, 2024 at 1:12 pm
Long-time HPC data storage company Panasas (formed 1999) is now Vdura. The new brand "signifies the company’s shift to a software company operating under a software subscription-based business model," ...
- Panasas Rebrands as VDURA: A New Chapter in Software-Defined Storage for AI Applicationson May 7, 2024 at 12:50 pm
VDURA, the AI and HPC data infrastructure software company, today announced its official launch as the new brand identity ...
- Data Storage Corporation Schedules First Quarter 2024 Business Update Conference Callon May 3, 2024 at 3:30 am
MELVILLE, N.Y., May 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Data Storage Corporation (Nasdaq: DTST) (“DSC” and the “Company”), a provider of diverse business continuity solutions for disaster ...
via Bing News