Nanomechanical data storage

Researchers from IBM’s Zurich  research facility have shown the prototype of a MEMS-based nanomechanical storage device for the first time at the CeBit show in Germany.

Known internally as the ‘Millipede’, the new device is capable of achieving data storage densities of more than 1TBit (1000GBit) per square inch – the equivalent to storing the content of 25 DVDs on an area the size of a postage stamp.

At its heart is a two-dimensional array of V-shaped silicon cantilevers, each 70 micrometers long that are arranged in the form of an array on a 10 mm x 10 mm chip.

For the device to perform its reading, writing, erasing or overwriting functions, the small cone shaped tips of the cantilevers are brought into contact with a thin film of a cross-linked polymer coated on a silicon substrate, which is moved in the x- and y-directions.

Individual bits are written by heating the tip to a temperature above the glass transition temperature of the polymer by means of a heating resistor integrated in the cantilever. The polymer then becomes softer, allowing the tip to indent a the film by a few nanometres.