The Millipede – A Nanotechnology-Based AFM Data-Storage System

The millipede concept presented in this chapter is a new approach to storing data at high speed and ultrahigh density. The interesting part is that millipede stores digital information in a completely different way from magnetic hard disks, optical disks, and transistor-based memory chips. The ultimate locality is provided by a tip, and high data rates are a result of massive parallel operation of such tips. As storage medium, polymer films are being considered, although the use of other media, in particular magnetic materials, has not been ruled out. The current effort is focused on demonstrating the millipede concept with areal densities higher than 1 Tb/inch2 and parallel operation of very large two-dimensional (2-D) (up to 64 × 64) atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilever arrays with integrated tips and write/read/erase functionality. The fabrication and integration of such a large number of mechanical devices (cantilever beams) will lead to what we envision as the very large-scale integration (VLSI) age of micro- and nanomechanics.

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