Nanodots breakthrough could pave way for 'a library on one chip'
Washington, Apr 29 (ANI): A breakthrough in the use of nanodots, or nanoscale magnets, has resulted in the development of a computer chip that can store an unprecedented amount of data - enough to hold an entire library's worth of information on a single chip.
Designed by a researcher at North Carolina State University, the new chip represents a significant advance in computer-memory technology.
"We have created magnetic nanodots that store one bit of information on each nanodot, allowing us to store over one billion pages of information in a chip that is one square inch," said Dr. Jay Narayan, author of the research.
These nanodots are made of single, defect-free crystals, creating magnetic sensors that are integrated directly into a silicon electronic chip.
The nanodots, which can be made uniformly as small as six nanometers in diameter, are all precisely oriented in the same way - allowing programmers to reliably read and write data to the chips.
The chips themselves can be manufactured cost-effectively,
However, the next step is to develop magnetic packaging that will enable users to take advantage of the chips - using something, such as laser technology, that can effectively interact with the nanodots.
The research was presented as an invited talk at the 2011 Materials Research Society Spring Meeting in San Francisco. (ANI)