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Researchers Develop Atomic-Scale Hard Drive That Writes Information Atom By Atom (techcrunch.com) 68

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Researchers in the Netherlands have created a microscopic storage system that encodes every bit with a single atom -- allowing them to fit a kilobyte in a space under 100 nanometers across. That translates to a storage density of about 500 terabits per square inch. For comparison, those 4-terabyte hard drives you can buy today are about 1 terabit per square inch. That's because, unlike this new system, they use hundreds or thousands of atoms to store a single bit. "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," explained Sander Otte, lead scientist at Delft University of Technology, in a news release. Because chlorine on copper forms into a perfectly square grid, it's easy (relatively, anyway) to position and read them. If the chlorine atom is up top, that's a 1; if it's at the bottom, that's a 0. Put 8 chlorine atoms in a row and they form a byte. The data the researchers chose to demonstrate this was a fragment of a Feynman lecture, "There's plenty of room at the bottom" (PDF) -- fittingly, about storing data at extremely small scales. (You can see a high-resolution image of the array here.) The chlorine-copper array is only stable in a clean vacuum and at 77 kelvin -- about the temperature of liquid nitrogen. Anything past that and heat will disrupt the organization of the atoms. The research was published today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
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Researchers Develop Atomic-Scale Hard Drive That Writes Information Atom By Atom

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  • by wierd_w ( 1375923 ) on Monday July 18, 2016 @08:51PM (#52538435)

    I have seen AFM images of xenon atoms spelling out IBM on a graphite sheet as old as the 90s.

    This smacks of "gimme fundingz plz!".

    This work is not terribly novel. If they could dynamically change the state of the arrangement withat applied electric or magnetic fields, that would be worth reporting. This however is not, imho.

    • Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)

      What did YOU invent this week?
      • by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 18, 2016 @09:33PM (#52538573)

        What did YOU invent this week?

        I'm still waiting for someone to invent something that somehow does NOT end up being a decade-long litigation between themselves and the fucking patent hoarders.

        Good fucking luck with that shit.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      This however is not, imho.

      Yeah who wants tech and science related news on Slashdot, anyway? I want more black lives matter and election coverage! (Before you fools get on my ass, yes I'm aware of the irony of my comment in relation to my current sig.)

    • by ihtoit ( 3393327 )

      I think there is more potential in the petabyte-potential crystal storage reported earlier this year, notwithstanding the fact that at current write speeds it would take 1200 years to fill just one 360TB crystal...

      http://www.pcworld.com/article... [pcworld.com]

    • by cdrudge ( 68377 )

      I have seen AFM images of xenon atoms spelling out IBM on a graphite sheet as old as the 90s.

      It was 1989 on nickle [wikipedia.org], but close enough. There's a difference though between what IBM did and what these researchers did. The IBM wasn't a precisely positioned repeating layout that could be repeatedly manipulated in a predictable manner.

      No it's not a monumental leap in storage technology from what's previously been demonstrated or discussed. But I haven't seen too many other functioning atomic "hard drives" in th

  • So? (Score:5, Funny)

    by meglon ( 1001833 ) on Monday July 18, 2016 @09:01PM (#52538473)

    The chlorine-copper array is only stable in a clean vacuum and at 77 kelvin -- about the temperature of liquid nitrogen. Anything past that and heat will disrupt the organization of the atoms.

    As someone who's been using dos/windows for the past 30 years or so.... THIS is the only problem you've got? Meh.

  • Now we have a stable product to install on the dark side of the Moon, just need to figure the network end and we'll be in the money!

    • by Mal-2 ( 675116 )

      There is no dark side of the moon, really.

      Matter of fact, it's all dark.

    • Re:Perfect (Score:4, Funny)

      by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Monday July 18, 2016 @10:13PM (#52538709)

      Now we have a stable product to install on the dark side of the Moon, just need to figure the network end and we'll be in the money!

      The a good network is key here, 'cause in space, no one can hear you stream.

    • Now we have a stable product to install on the dark side of the Moon, just need to figure the network end and we'll be in the money!

      Except that the Moon doesn't have a dark side. It has a hidden side.

      What you're getting at is being able to keep an atomic drive (how cool is that just to say!) array in a naturally cold place where minimal refrigeration will be needed to maintain function. There happens to be a crater at the lunar south pole deep enough that the sun never shines into it, keeping it cold as Hillary's heart.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    The "hard" in "hard drive" refers to the disk.

    If there is no disk, then it isn't a hard drive.

    • In this case I imagine "hard" refers to "storing data atom by atom at 77 Kelvin (-321 F) in a vacuum". Be sure to keep backups in case it heats up to arctic temperatures.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      I'm getting hard just thinking about it.

  • 500 is ~ 2^9 (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nyet ( 19118 ) on Monday July 18, 2016 @10:24PM (#52538747) Homepage

    So according to moore's law, we have about 18 years of storage density progress left.

    • So according to moore's law, we have about 18 years of storage density progress left.

      Moore's law refers to the number of transistors (or other electrical components) in ICs, not Cu and Cl atoms in storage devices. Kryder's law would be more appropriate, but still not on the spot. I agree that 500 is ~2^9 though :).

  • by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Monday July 18, 2016 @11:32PM (#52538971) Journal

    "...they use hundreds or thousands of atoms to store a single bit."

    Those wasteful bastards!

  • Stop! Nobody move! I've just dropped the sum total of human knowledge on the floor, so if you can all get down on your hand and knees and help me look for it, this might not mean the end of civilization as we know it.

  • I mean, it's cool (pardon the pun) but not all of us have a GAN plant in our back garden...

    (there's a GAN plant four miles up the road from me, but I'm not about to run up there with a thermos)

  • Hackers can turn your home computer into a (nukelar) BOMB ...& blow your planet into smithereens!

  • it's easy (relatively, anyway)

    I see what you did there.

  • If I defrag the hard drive, will it create an irreversible cataclysmic nuclear chain reaction?

  • If I recall correctly, that was the storage methodology for one of the iterations of Asimov's MultiVAX in "The Last Question".

    Which we can now ask: "Can Entropy Be Reversed?"

    INSUFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER

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