Record density: create the first hard drive that writes data atom by atom – Gizmodo in Spanish

Images: FE Kalff et al.

Dutch and Spanish researchers have developed the first memory that can record, read and rewrite data at the atomic scale. It is able to store 80 terabits of information on a square centimeter, enough to hold all the books in the history of mankind on the surface of a stamp.

The details of the system have been published today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology . Just a kilobyte capacity, but multiplied by 500 storage density of a conventional hard disk. Moving works vaporized chlorine atoms on a copper substrate

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When the atom is in the upper position and below the hole, the bit corresponds to a 1. the opposite is 0

a scanning tunneling microscope is able to distinguish the locations containing the chlorine atom (presence, p) of not (vacant, v). The combination of a presence and a vacancy equals one bit, and the relative position of the atom (pv or vp) gives its binary value. Zero or one

It’s like a puzzle in which the pieces they can be slid. Y is more stable than other systems because the chlorine atoms are not loose but surrounded by other than chlorine atoms held in place. Using this method, scientists managed to create a stable memory of 8000 bits.

With it they paid particular tribute to Richard Feynman, the father of nanotechnology. To test his invention, the researchers wrote with chlorine atoms pronounced by Feynman quote for There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom , the conference 1959 which predicted that computers could be constructed at the atomic scale

In these we are, Richard.; But it is not so easy. This “hard atomic” only works under vacuum conditions and at the temperature of liquid nitrogen, 77 degrees Kelvin or -196.15 ºC. It will take several years to see something like that in home computers. [Nature Nanotechnology]

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