Massive Data Storage in Tiny Devices

Jan. 10, 2003 -- A quick look at the new consumer electronics products being developed by companies quickly reveals a fast emerging trend: many devices are turning into smart, digital data devices.

Cell phones already can capture and send digital photos wirelessly. And soon consumers will see wristwatches that can display news and information from the Internet as well as palm-sized boxes that will contain dozens of full-length, DVD-quality digital movies.

But to cram all of that data into ever-smaller devices, companies are developing novel — and tiny — storage devices.

Recently, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, a joint venture between Hitachi and IBM, announced plans to produce an advanced version of IBM's tiny Microdrive hard disk drive.

The miniature storage device measures roughly an inch-wide and functions exactly like traditional hard drives found in any computer. But by using advanced technology developed from IBM research, the Microdrive can store over four gigabytes of data on disks roughly the size of U.S. quarters.

Bill Healy, a manager of Hitachi's mobile storage unit in San Jose, Calif., says that when the tiny drive becomes available by this fall, it will allow for new types of portable multimedia devices.

"I'm really looking forward to Christmas of 2003," says Healy, "That's when you'll start to see digital video cameras that use Microdrive-like devices to store high-quality, DVD-like video."

Marking Up an Old Memory Idea

But for even smaller multimedia devices — wristwatch cameras and cellphones, say — IBM is working on a technology that may make even the Microdrive seem like a boat anchor.

For years, researchers at IBM's research centers in Zurich, Switzerland, have been working on a storage system code-named Millipede. Rather than using magnetic disks such as those found in hard drives, Millipede stores data using thousands of levers that are about 10 micrometers wide.

The levers are arranged in a square grid and travel along a sheet of thin plastic. To record a bit of data, the tip of each lever is heated to 400 degrees Celsius and "punches" into the plastic to create a tiny "pit."

This technique of storing data is similar to so-called punch-cards, developed more than 110 years ago. But unlike punch cards, the pits can be erased and reused by re-heating the spike's point and melting the plastic film back to shape.

What's more, each "pit" is tiny, measuring only 10 nanometers in diameter. The result? Millipede can store roughly one trillion bits of data per square inch of media — 20 times greater than what is possible with today's magnetic storage devices.

Making Many More Miniature Marks

Tom Albrecht, manager of micro- and nano-mechanics research at IBM's Zurich research center, says that lab tests of Millipede last year have produced impressive results.

In a three millimeter square array containing over 1,000 levers, millipede was able to store and retrieve a 50 kilobyte digital image file with little difficulties.

But later this year, Albrecht says the IBM research team will be testing a more ambitious Millipede chip that would use over 4,000 levers in a 7 square-millimeter area of plastic. At that level of development, Albrecht expects the chip to handle "several gigabytes" of data.

"That's the whole value proposition of this technology," says Albrecht. "We can [expand] the media to get tens of gigabytes [of storage space]."

What's more, producing the Millipede chip won't require new chip-making processes.

"This is a MEMS [micro-electromechanical system], so basically it is using fabrication technology for microelectronics," says Albrecht. "We don't draw on any [technique] that's particularly difficult to develop."

Crawling Onward

Still, Albrecht notes that the team has much research to do before Millipede crawls out of IBM's labs and into future gizmos.

"There are a number of different issues that have to be answered," says Albrecht. "What is the long term reliability of the read/write process? How does it react to environmental conditions? Can we get power consumption levels and data [transfer] rates that's competitive with other [storage] technologies?"

At best, IBM says that a Millipede-based memory device could be available by the end of 2005.