New record set for ferroelectric data storage By Paul Ridden <http://www.gizmag.com/author/paul-ridden/>
*02:05 August 26, 2010* [image: A Scanning Nonlinear Dielectric Microscope Inset left: shows topography and electric dipol...]<http://www.gizmag.com/ferroelectric-data-storage-world-record/16145/picture/119690/> A Scanning Nonlinear Dielectric Microscope Inset left: shows topography and electric dipole-moment Inset right: Example of a ferroelectric information storage Laptop Deals at Dell<http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/aclk?sa=l&ai=BSvVZZRZ3TK2zGKOUjQTGjsCHCOWkmscB3b3l_BLAjbcB0MjhAxABGAEgs9z6ASgEOABQw-b-x_7_____AWDJxs2GyKOgGbIBDnd3dy5naXptYWcuY29tugEKMzAweDI1MF9qc8gBAdoBmAFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lmdpem1hZy5jb20vZmVycm9lbGVjdHJpYy1kYXRhLXN0b3JhZ2Utd29ybGQtcmVjb3JkLzE2MTQ1Lz91dG1fc291cmNlPUdpem1hZytTdWJzY3JpYmVycyZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249MWQxMGJiNWQ5Ny1VQS0yMjM1MzYwLTQmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbMgC7a3DEagDAegD8APoA6AC9QMCAABE&num=1&sig=AGiWqtyfRD8cmZ4lt8gYIA77rOT5EZYLOw&client=ca-pub-1607124478120364&adurl=http://na.link.decdna.net/n/43643/53067/altfarm.mediaplex.com/g96xg0%3B11%3B4%3B%3B8%3B%3Bbo8la1%3B10greh%3B%3B7d3ox%3B%3B1%3B/i/c%3F0%26pq%3D%252fad%252fck%252f12309%252d80731%252d2056%252d0%253fkw%253dbuy%2Blaptop%2Bcomputer%2526mpre%253dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Flt%252edell%252ecom%25252Flt%25252Flt%252easpx%25253FCID%25253D38120%252526LID%25253D936106%252526DGC%25253DST%252526DGSeg%25253DDHS%252526DURL%25253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww%252edell%252ecom%25252Fhome%25252Flaptops%252526st%25253Dbuy%252blaptop%252bcomputer%252526ACD%25253D%253cx%253dthirdPartyTracking%2528%2527%252c%2527%252c1%252c64%2529%253e%252526AID%25253DDHS%255fSystems%26247cr%3D4984460421> - www.Dell.com<http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/aclk?sa=l&ai=BSvVZZRZ3TK2zGKOUjQTGjsCHCOWkmscB3b3l_BLAjbcB0MjhAxABGAEgs9z6ASgEOABQw-b-x_7_____AWDJxs2GyKOgGbIBDnd3dy5naXptYWcuY29tugEKMzAweDI1MF9qc8gBAdoBmAFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lmdpem1hZy5jb20vZmVycm9lbGVjdHJpYy1kYXRhLXN0b3JhZ2Utd29ybGQtcmVjb3JkLzE2MTQ1Lz91dG1fc291cmNlPUdpem1hZytTdWJzY3JpYmVycyZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249MWQxMGJiNWQ5Ny1VQS0yMjM1MzYwLTQmdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbMgC7a3DEagDAegD8APoA6AC9QMCAABE&num=1&sig=AGiWqtyfRD8cmZ4lt8gYIA77rOT5EZYLOw&client=ca-pub-1607124478120364&adurl=http://na.link.decdna.net/n/43643/53067/altfarm.mediaplex.com/g96xg0%3B11%3B4%3B%3B8%3B%3Bbo8la1%3B10greh%3B%3B7d3ox%3B%3B1%3B/i/c%3F0%26pq%3D%252fad%252fck%252f12309%252d80731%252d2056%252d0%253fkw%253dbuy%2Blaptop%2Bcomputer%2526mpre%253dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Flt%252edell%252ecom%25252Flt%25252Flt%252easpx%25253FCID%25253D38120%252526LID%25253D936106%252526DGC%25253DST%252526DGSeg%25253DDHS%252526DURL%25253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww%252edell%252ecom%25252Fhome%25252Flaptops%252526st%25253Dbuy%252blaptop%252bcomputer%252526ACD%25253D%253cx%253dthirdPartyTracking%2528%2527%252c%2527%252c1%252c64%2529%253e%252526AID%25253DDHS%255fSystems%26247cr%3D4984460421> Buy High Performance Laptops w/ 2010 Intel Core. 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Although the adoption of solid state drives is slowly beginning to spread, most of our computer systems still currently use voluminous spinning disks to store the various pieces of our digital lives. Another way Meanwhile, researchers from the Research Institute of Electrical Communication Tohoku University <http://www.riec.tohoku.ac.jp/index-e.shtml> have been looking at other storage methods and have recently disclosed their findings to the American Institute of Physics <http://www.aip.org/>. Recording to a ferroelectric substrate, Kenkou Tanaka and Yasuo Cho have reportedly been successful in achieving a data density of 4 trillion bits per square inch, a world record for experimental ferroelectric data storage. The scientists used a Scanning Nonlinear Dielectric Microscope as the storage and playback apparatus. Writing data involved sending relatively large voltage pulses through a pulse generator to a 30nm Lithium Tantalate medium. The tiny cantilever tip of the pulse generator successively alters the electric polarization and nonlinear dielectric constant of tiny spots on the ferroelectric medium, where positive voltage pulses represent a "1" data bit and negative pulses represent "0". Tanaka and Cho also experimented with various pulse amplitudes and came up with a method for reducing the incidence of miswritten dots where close write proximity caused the polarized regions to expand to such an extent that individual bits were not distinct. Cho said: "We expect this ferroelectric data storage system to be a candidate to succeed magnetic hard disk drives or flash memory, at least in applications for which extremely high data density and small physical volume is required." Research continues However, improvements and fine tuning of such things as accuracy and speed will need to be made before such a storage system can be primed for commercial development. In related news, it would appear that existing magnetic technologies are not going to be superseded without a fight as Toshiba<http://www.gizmag.com/tag/toshiba/> recently unveiled a prototype magnetic storage technology capable of cramming 2.5Tb of data into a square inch.
