Reducing information stored in magnetic thin films to the size of single grains could improve computer hard drives
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - 11:04
in Physics & Chemistry
Despite the increasing competition from alternative technologies such as solid-state drives, magnetic disks remain an important data-storage technology. They are not only reliable and inexpensive, but their storage density has potential for even further improvement. One method under current investigation is storing each data bit in a single magnetic grain of the thin film of the recording medium, rather than in several grains as in conventional hard drives. Storage in single grains only would increase stability and reduce the magnetic fields required to write bits.