Australian researchers have developed a new polymer that could allow data to be stored in materials in the form of physical traces, such as cuneiform writing on clay tablets. Storage mediums with this technology can have a higher data density than existing hard drives.
More than two thousand years ago, some ancient people used clay tablets to inscribe texts The cuneiformThe cuneiform. These tablets, uncooked, were reusable, as it was sufficient to soak them in water to soften them. In an article published in the journal Advanced ScienceResearchers at Flinders University in Australia have developed a similar technique to create a storage medium that promises higher data density than existing hard drives.
Their invention uses a PolymerPolymer Based on SulphurSulphur and dicyclopentadiene. Just like withsoilsoilThe scientists stored the information in the form of traces in the polymer and worked at scale. NanometerNanometer Thanks to a probe mounted on one Atomic force microscopeAtomic force microscope which allows you to mark the polymer and read the inscriptions. An advantage of this polymer is that it is possible to write data on it at room temperature.
An inexpensive polymer that is easy to mark and erase.
This system is so sensitive that the probe is able to detect the depth of the marks, increasing the probability of encoding information. This makes it possible to switch to ternary instead of binary coding, which quadruples the data density. Additionally, this is not an archive set in stone. Under the influence of The heatThe heatthe polymer becomes soft enough to fill the logs, thereby erasing the data. Ten seconds at 140°C Degree CelsiusDegree Celsius are enough. The researchers performed several cycles of writing and erasing the data without seeing any degradation on the polymer surface.
Other researchers, esp IBMIBMLG and IntelIntelThis type of technology has already been explored, but faced difficulties in cost, quantity.EnergyEnergy Essential and content very complex. In addition to operating at room temperature, this type of polymer is inexpensive to produce, significantly reducing the energy required and technology complexity. The researchers now plan to try using LaserLaser Low power instead of heat to erase data.
