Nanotechnology for Data Storage Applications
This chapter considers atomic force microscopy (AFM) as an enabling technology for data storage applications, considering already existing technologies such as hard disk drives (HDD), optical disk drives (ODD) and Flash Memories that currently dominate th
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Nanotechnolo
This chapter will differ from the other chapters in this handbook in that it addresses the important issue of whether a given scientific effort is mature enough to evolve into a commercially viable technology. Specifically, we consider scanning probe microscopy (SPM), consisting of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) [30.1–3] and atomic force microscopy (AFM) with all their variants, as a means for storing and retrieving nanoscale bits of data to and from a substrate. Indeed, many studies have already been published in which researchers demonstrated the feasibility of using SPM techniques that hold promise for realistic applications [30.4]. However, in approaching a topic from a practical point of view, that is, whether it has the ingredients that will spawn a commercial product, it
30.1 Current Status of Commercial Data Storage Devices ....... 901 30.1.1 Non-Volatile Random Access Memory ..................................... 904 30.2 Opportunities Offered by Nanotechnology for Data Storage ................................... 30.2.1 Motors ....................................... 30.2.2 Sensors ...................................... 30.2.3 Media and Experimental Results ...
907 907 909 913
30.3 Conclusion ........................................... 918 References .................................................. 919 has; namely, the possibility of addressing a very large number of nanoscale bits of data in parallel. This chapter differs from the other chapters in this book in that it addresses the important issue of whether a given scientific effort, namely, Probe Storage, is mature enough to evolve into a commercially viable technology. The answer seems to indicate that there indeed is a huge niche in the data storage arena that such a technology is uniquely qualified to fill, which is large enough to justify a major investment in research and development. Indeed, as other chapters indicate, such an effort is developing at a rapid pace, with hopes of having a viable product within a few years.
is imperative to obtain a clear view of the status of competing technologies. The commercially available technologies that will concern us here entail two classes of devices, one consisting of hard disk drives (HDD) and optical disk drives (ODD), and the other consisting of Non-Volatile Random Access Memories (NVRAM) based on charge trapping (Flash Memory) that currently dominate the data storage market. The latter may soon be supplemented by magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) and phase change RAM (PC-RAM). For brevity, we will refer to the first class as HDD and the one as NVRAM. It is commonly thought that nanotechnology is a breakthrough technology that is a quantum leap beyond existing technologies in its capabilities. In reality, however, nanotechnology is in many cases just a limiting
Part E 30
This chapter considers atomic force microscopy (AFM) as an enabling technology for data storage applications, considering already existing technologies such as hard disk drives (HDD), optical disk drives (ODD) and F
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