Computer Memory Technology Uses Single Atoms to Store Data

July 19th, 2016

Awake Goy

Computer Memory Technology Uses Single Atoms to Store Data

July 18th, 2016

This atom-scale memory technology will probably ship around the same time that the Mr. Fusion does, but it’s an interesting read anyway.

Back in the real world, the upcoming 3D XPoint (aka Optane) technology will become mainstream in a couple of years and that offers 1000x faster performance and 10x the density of existing SSDs.

Via: Delft University of Technology:

Every day, modern society creates more than a billion gigabytes of new data. To store all this data, it is increasingly important that each single bit occupies as little space as possible. A team of scientists at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University managed to bring this reduction to the ultimate limit: they built a memory of 1 kilobyte (8,000 bits), where each bit is represented by the position of one single chlorine atom. â€œIn theory, this storage density would allow all books ever created by humans to be written on a single post stampâ€�, says lead-scientist Sander Otte. They reached a storage density of 500 Terabits per square inch (Tbpsi), 500 times better than the best commercial hard disk currently available. His team reports on this memory in Nature Nanotechnology on Monday July 18.

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