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31/08/2007
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IBM has moved a step closer to storing data at the atomic level, by manipulating individual iron atoms on a copper surface
IBM researchers have used scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) techniques to manipulate individual iron atoms and arrange them with atomic precision on a specially prepared copper surface. They then determined the orientation and strength of the magnetic anisotropy of the individual iron atoms.
Anisotropy is an important property for data storage because it determines whether or not a magnet can maintain a specific orientation. This in turn allows the magnet to represent either a ‘1’ or ‘0’ – the basis for storing data in computers.
“We are one step closer to figuring out how to store data at the atomic level.” said Gian-Luca Bona, manager of science and technology at the IBM Almaden Research Center.
IBM says that, with further work, it may be possible to build structures consisting of small clusters of atoms, or even individual atoms, that could reliably store magnetic information. Such a storage capability, it believes, would enable nearly 30,000 feature length movies – more than 1Pbit (1015bit) of data – to fit in a device the size of an iPod.
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Author
Lou Reade
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