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Thursday, November 20, 2003
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Storage increases tenfold
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An innovative use of an old material has led to a new form of
storage that is 10 times denser than current magnetic storage
technology.
The technology, called Pedot (polyethylenethioxythiophene), is a
conductive polymer widely used in digital cameras as an
anti-static coating. But if a strong current is passed through
it, the material permanently changes into an insulator.
Pedot will massively increase storage capacity while reducing
costs. It will also increase the lifespan of storage devices
because they have no moving parts and the medium is
non-destructive.
It will be used for long-term archiving rather than read/write
storage, because once written the data is permanently locked in.
"This discovery was a mixture of necessity and serendipity," said
Professor Stephen Forrest of Princton University, who developed
the system in conjunction with Hewlett Packard labs in Palo Alto.
"It's important because there is no physical destruction involved
in writing data. A CD uses a high-powered laser that burns data
onto the disc while a low-power one reads it."
The two forms, conductor and insulator, can be used to represent
the zeros and ones that make up all binary data. By building a
grid of the material sandwiched between conducting wires,
low-cost, ultra high-capacity storage units can be built.
A commercial release date has yet to be set. |
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